Do I Seem That Desperate?
by defying3reason
Summary: In mainstream comic books coming out of the closet is kinda like taking a vow of celibacy, since there are so few gay characters. When Piper has a hard time finding a date, Flash comes up with a match-making team-up. Update: Piper breaks out of Iron Heights and gets some unexpected help; Dick spends some quality time with Tim Drake.
1. Chapter 1

"Oh hey hon, you just missed Piper." Linda clicked her laptop shut and moved over on the sofa so her husband could join her. He'd been in the Flash costume when he ran into the living room, but when he collapsed over her lap he was wearing work out pants and an old t-shirt.

"Oh. Why'd he take off?" Wally asked.

"Well, he psychically sensed your imminent arrival and since he's been harboring a secret loathing of you he figured it was best to make himself scarce." Linda didn't actually have much of a sarcastic voice, and sometimes her perfect deliveries threw Wally. Luckily for him he was able to think at superhuman speed as well as run, or else she'd realize how stupid he could be.

"I'm glad his timing worked out then." Wally joked back. "Seriously, how's he doing? I haven't seen him for a few days."

Linda shook her head. "I think he's lonely."

"Oh hell, did you do some crazy emotional female psychoanalysis trip on him or something?" Wally asked, sitting up. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Do I look like I suddenly turned into Oprah or something? Fine, I don't just think he's lonely, he told me." Linda admitted. She frowned. "I guess it's been awhile since he's gone on a date-oh please Wally, grow up."

"Hey, I have no problems with Piper's sexual preference…I just don't like to think about it that much. It's icky."

Linda lightly smacked his arm. "Well get over the ickiness factor. I think we should find someone for him."

"What? Why is that our job?"

"First of all it's not. But think about it this way. If it was one of your straight friends, wouldn't you try to think of a girl you knew that they'd hit it off with?"

"No. I don't get a thrill out of matchmaking." Wally said with a smirk. "I believe that's more of a feminine joy, Oprah." Linda hit him again, but this time he grabbed his arm and cringed. "Ow! That one really hurt!"

"You're being an ass. If you don't want to help, fine, but I'm going to introduce him to one of my friends from work."

"I wasn't aware you knew a ton of gay guys." Wally commented, still rubbing his arm where he'd been hit. "Who?"

"I don't know a ton of gay guys…actually Hartley was complaining that Keystone is on the more closeted side and I'm going to have to say, I agree with him. But there's a cameraman named Eric who seems really nice. He's cute, anyway. They might hit it off."

"Eric…have I met him?" Wally asked. Linda shook her head. "Okay, so what's he like?"

Linda quirked an eyebrow. "I thought you didn't care about playing matchmaker."

"Well if you're making it a challenge…besides, Hartley's one of my friends. I need to make sure you're not setting him up with a loser."

"I'm not setting him up with a loser!" Linda insisted. "You'd like Eric. He's really friendly. We had a good conversation this morning about the Combines-"

"Yeah, what's he into besides hockey?"

"Don't interrupt."

"Well Piper hates sports so he'd better have something else going for him." Wally pointed out. Linda hesitated.

"He is gorgeous." She finally spluttered out.

"Ah huh."

"You don't think they're going to click, do you?" Linda looked annoyed. Wally reached for the remote control and propped his feet on the coffee table, seemingly losing interest in the conversation, which only further her agitation.

"If they do, I'll handle cooking and dishes for a month."

"Oh you jerk! Why are you so sure they won't work?" Linda demanded.

He shrugged. "I just don't think you know Piper well enough to know his type."

"Oh but you do. Mr. 'but it's icky!'"

"It is icky. Really big poops can hurt coming out, so I don't see why you'd want something big going in."

"Your maturity astounds me sometimes. Remind me again why I married you?" Linda said, once again in her scary-not-sarcastic sarcastic voice. Wally panicked a second before his brain caught up with the actual meaning of the sentence, albeit quickly enough for Linda not to notice. She didn't need to know he was immature _and_ stupid to boot.

"You married me because I'm sexy?" He put forth in a small voice. Linda leaned over and kissed his cheek.

"That must have been it. Alright stud, if Eric doesn't work out then who do you suggest? Since you and Piper have this close, intimate relationship where you've learned what kind of man he's into and all."

Wally considered for a second. He wasn't actually sure he knew anybody else who preferred men…oh wait, he did but, no, that would never…well, maybe…actually yeah.

"Nightwing swings both ways."

Linda looked honestly surprised at that. Wally had found it to be the least surprising bit of news he'd ever heard, personally. Once she'd recovered from the announcement, she spent little time picking apart his idea.

"You cannot set Piper up with Nightwing."

"Why not?" Wally asked, surprised at the vehemence of her tone.

"Because I like Piper! And, well…I don't think it's a good idea for you to have one of our friends date someone you refer to as the Bat-Slut!"

Okay, that was a valid point. Wally thought of a way around it. "Bat-Slut's just a joke." It really wasn't. Dick's standards were _loose_. "I mean, yeah, he sleeps around a little when he's unattached-" which was like saying sometimes Batman could be a little, teeny bit cranky, "but when he's a boyfriend he's a really good one." Which was actually true.

Linda frowned, keen reporter's mind still picking apart the suggestion. "Do you even think they'd be attracted to each other?"

Wally openly laughed at that. "Dick can charm the pants off of anyone! No, wait, make that he can charm anyone into his. I don't think attraction will be a problem."

"What about the other way around?" Linda pressed. "We both know Piper's a great guy, but…he's a little, well, awkward. And bookish…and-"

"A nerd. Yeah, noted. So's Nightwing." Wally sat back against the couch, glad to have defeated that point so easily. Linda rolled her eyes.

"I know I don't know him as well as you do or anything, but really Wally-"

"I'm telling the truth! Dick's a certified nerd. Hon, when we were kids in the Titans together, me and Roy would be struggling through our homework together trying not to flunk out of school because of putting the super hero life ahead of our studying, and Dick would be sitting there reading college level books for fun. He's one of a handful of people I know who can keep up with Hartley in conversation about nerd stuff. And he wouldn't mention hockey once…actually, the more I think about it, that was a pretty good idea of mine. Huh. I'm a pretty good matchmaker after all."

"I'm not buying it."

"So what, do you think Piper's ugly or something?" Wally asked. It had been obvious the couple of times Linda had interacted with Nightwing that she didn't think he was…if Wally were a less secure man he might have been jealous. Alright, he had been ticked off, but at the same time it wouldn't be practical to get rid of all of the hot super hero friends he had. For starters, he wasn't sure he could take them all.

"I don't think Hartley's ugly." Linda bristled. "He could really be quite cute if he, well…"

"Lost the hippie pony tail?" Wally suggested.

"Saw a bit more of the sun and a bit less of the computer as well. He's pretty pasty."

"Yeah, and he's not the most suave dresser in the world." Wally shrugged. "I throw on whatever smells clean at the moment and you're hot and you still love me." He pointed out.

Linda rolled her eyes. "Well Nightwing seemed shallow to me. You really think he'd be interested in Hartley?"

Wally gave her a confused look. "Shallow? Oh what, you mean because he dated Korey for so long?"

Linda snorted. For some reason Wally didn't fully understand, women who didn't know Korey very well tended to dislike her. He figured they didn't expect her to be as sweet as she was or something.

"The space princess does pretty much sum up my argument. Or are you telling me she's a total nerd too and I've got her pegged all wrong?" Linda asked smugly.

"Naw, Korey's not a nerd. And yeah, Dick's relationship with her was mostly passion and sex, at least from what we could tell. But the big relationship in his life was with the first batgirl-"

"Oh, well obviously that wouldn't have been shallow at all. I mean she was a hag." Linda's voice dipped into genuine sarcasm for that one. Apparently it came out for female cattiness.

"Dick dated her after she was maimed to the point she couldn't continue the super hero life anymore." Wally particularly enjoyed the embarrassed look on his wife's face at that comment, and decided to leave the fact that the maiming hadn't affected Barbara's looks out of the conversation. "That relationship was deep. And she's a bookish computer nerd too. Ha. I'm right and you're wrong!"

"Well we'll see. I'll try setting Hartley up with Eric first, and if that goes well then you have to cook and do dishes as promised. If Eric fails, and you get him set up with Nightwing, then I'll…"

"I'll settle for fifty bucks."

"What?" She'd clearly been expecting a chore of some kind in return.

"I want fifty bucks left out of our joint-happily-married-couple finances to spend as idiotically and guy-ishly as I want."

"Fine. Fifty bucks it is."


	2. Chapter 2

Hartley glanced with disdain at the young man Linda had set him up with. The blind date had been enough of an act of desperation in and of itself, a reflection of the slim pickings Keystone had to offer its gay community. The kid was cute enough, but a little younger than Linda and therefore they had enough of an age gap to make conversation difficult for the two of them. They had no common interests and Hartley was damn sick of pretending to know enough about hockey to talk about it. He'd used all the drivel he'd picked up from Wally and Linda already.

Vapid-younger-man was going on excitedly about some game or other he'd attended recently, missing Hartley's complete lack of interest and now inviting him out to a sports bar. Oh yes, because his artsy ponytail and posh accent screamed of a secret, unfulfilled desire to drown in Budweiser and peanuts surrounded by sweaty overweight men in t-shirts screaming at soundless TVs. He didn't even go to _gay_ bars.

Then again, maybe if he did he wouldn't be on such a lousy blind date. Thankfully his cell rang and he was able to sneak away from Eric's less than pleasant company, if only for a moment.

"Linda? Does Wally need help saving the city from peril?"

"Things going that bad, huh?" Linda asked sympathetically.

"No, no, lovely man, really. But if Grodd's making a fuss downtown I wouldn't hesitate to slip away." He answered dryly. "This boy does know I'm a costume, right?"

"Yes, he knows I'm the Flash's wife and that you're my good friend reformed criminal Pied Piper. He thought that sounded hot, actually. I thought Eric was really sweet! Cute too. How come you're not hitting it off?"

"He's…"

"Too much of an idiot?"

"Yes, that."

"I'm sorry Piper, I tried." To her credit she did sound sorry, which was just insulting. He'd kind of hoped this had been some sort of bad prank. The idea that he'd hit it off with an incoherent dipshit like Eric was just...did he seem that desperate?

'You got drunk and confided in your friend's wife that you hadn't been laid in four months. Yes you do seem that desperate.' Hartley reminded himself.

"I guess it was a good idea to do the phone call then." Linda said with a sigh. "You probably shouldn't use the city in peril excuse. If nothing's on the news later then Eric will just ask me some awkward questions the next time he sees me…let's see…"

"I don't suppose you could have a more mundane emergency that you'd need my help with?" Hartley asked, though he couldn't think of one. He'd never ducked out of a date like this before. Sometimes emergencies interrupted even the good ones.

"Um, well I suppose the toilet could overflow or something."

"Oh gee, and you wouldn't call Wally because…?"

"He's with the JLA?" Linda said lamely. "I don't know-hey Wally! Why wouldn't I call you if the toilet over-no, never mind Wait, what? …yeah, I'm talking to him now…no, the date's going terrible, apparently he'd rather be fighting Grodd-shut up! I tried, which is more than I can say for-"

"Linda! Does he have an idea?" Hartley asked, getting her attention again.

"Hm? Oh, yes, apparently he needs to see you about something costume-related, so you can lie and pretend it's urgent."

"Great. I'll be over in a bit."

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"So, costume-related query?" Hartley asked, once he was escorted into the living room.

"Yeah…so this is actually a little awkward…" Wally nervously scratched the back of his neck, eyes averted.

Hartley shrugged. "It's been an awkward kind of night."

Wally laughed. "I guess. I can't believe Linda set you up with a twit."

"He was cute!" Linda exclaimed defensively from the kitchen. "And I really did think he was sweet. Cute and dumb is not a bad combination, you know!" She looked pointedly at Wally, who seemed to miss the dig.

"Hey, he'd have been great company for one night, but I'm not really looking for that. I've been looking for more of a connec…well anyway, what was the favor?" Hartley asked around a sigh.

"It's not actually for me, uh, a friend of mine needs help on a case and we thought you'd be good on it, but, well I mean if you don't want to, hey, that's fine and I understand in advance and everything but I did promise I'd ask, so just, don't feel pressured or-"

"Wally, it's okay." Hartley smiled, amused. "You can just ask."

"Okay. My friend Nightwing is working on a case involving a serial rapist and murderer that's targeting gay bars and clubs in Bludhaven. Preferred victim is between five foot nine and six two, medium build, and red hair. Five victims so far, all with their pointer fingers removed, bodies mutilated and dumped in an alley behind a church."

Hartley looked somewhat startled at the implied request. "So as a five foot ten gay red head, your friend thinks that I'll make good bait, I take it."

"He thinks you have more of a shot of being noticed than he does and he's usually pretty good about these things. I said I'd pass along the request, that's it."

He considered. It didn't sound like it would be a pleasant experience, far from it in fact, but then again a change of scenery and company sounded good at the moment.

"Alright, I'm in. As long as he can promise me my pointer fingers will remain in tact. I'm rather attached to them."

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hartley made his way to an excessively large loft apartment in one of the few nice buildings in Bludhaven that didn't scream of being mob property. He wondered idly as he took the elevator to the top floor if he was going to learn Nightwing's secret identity or if the hero would wear a mask the entire time they interacted. He hadn't really worked much with costumed heroes who weren't public, after all.

Nightwing did answer the door with his mask and costume on, but it also looked like he'd just gotten in from action of some kind. He was sweaty and bleeding openly from a cut on his right bicep.

"Hi Piper, c'mon inside." Nightwing smiled pleasantly and waved him in, apparently oblivious to the gaping wound on his arm. Hartley nodded to return the greeting, stepped inside and awkwardly dropped his duffle bag by the door. Nightwing hopped over the back of his couch and stripped his shirt off. There were medical supplies laid out on the coffee table in front of him. "Don't mind me. It was just a graze, but I'd still prefer to take care of it sooner as opposed to later."

"Perfectly understandable. Um…was it anything exciting?"

"Not really. Just some amateur costumes and some hostages in a bank. The real problem was the mobsters who owned the bank. Trigger happy bastards."

Actually that did sound a little exciting but Hartley let it go. He sat down across from Nightwing and waited for him to finish. It really did only take a few minutes. He was very deft at patching himself up.

"So hi. Ever been to Bludhaven before?" Nightwing asked, once his injury was sterilized and bandaged.

"Only passed through."

"Ah. I know you've been working with Wally for a little while now, and he tends to get some pretty freaky stuff like crazy cults and lots of metas. I tend to get a healthy mix of the weird stuff and down to earth normal crime. So far this one seems like the normal level of disgusting rape and murder, but you never know. You ever work the more standard stuff?"

"Not really. I'm more of a reserve for when the city's gone crazy. Oh, and info."

"That's what I figured. Well that's cool, but the first few nights are probably going to seem kind of boring for you. I figure we'll just case a few bars in the area our psycho's been hitting. Chat up the locals, see what we can find out and see what kind of interest you attract. It's really helpful how well you fit the profile. I would've just dyed my hair, but the sicko prefers naturals and my roots show instantly." Nightwing explained.

"Mm hm." 'Do not stare at the sweaty half naked man' Hartley scolded himself as he forced his eyes back up to Nightwing's face. Although in his defense it was hard to maintain eye contact with someone wearing a mask that whited out their eyes.

"So Wally told me you don't really spend much time in bars or anything. I was just wondering where you go to pick up guys." Nightwing asked.

"Excuse me?"

"It's relevant, I promise." Nightwing said with a laugh. He also had very nice teeth. Hartely forgave him. "It's just if you're not used to picking up guys in a bar, or trying to be picked up, it's going to show."

"Oh. I tend to meet people through friends, or at more cultured public places. Special exhibits, musical performances at cafes, that sort of thing. So yes, I'll probably look terribly out of place at a bar."

"We can play that up no problem." Nightwing said with a nod. "I'll be your slutty friend who keeps dragging you to bars to try to get you to loosen up. A certain breed of guy will find your aloofness appealing, thinking they need to properly initiate you to the gay culture, and you will appear plenty desired and appealing bait for the serial killer."

"The entire thing's not going to rest on me being selected out of however many people there are in this city, is it?"

"Bludhaven's population isn't a favorable ethnic mix for the profile at the moment, but still, of course not. Frankly we're not that lucky, although I do think our chances aren't so bad that you shouldn't wear a tracking device. I'd prefer not to think about what Wally'd do to me if I got one of his friends maimed and killed. We're mostly there to submerge ourselves in the potential crime scenes and sniff out information. The police aren't really touching this case but it's not for lack of leads or cooperation. The guys downtown are buzzing about it."

"So wait, have you already been staking out the bars?" Hartley asked, surprised.

Nightwing smirked at him. "Those types of places are where I go to pick up guys. How do you think I heard about the killings to begin with?"


	3. Chapter 3

Hartely didn't see Nightwing without his mask on until he approached him at the first bar they went to. He almost didn't recognize him, but the very nice teeth he'd noticed earlier gave him away. He looked familiar, to the point that Hartley was pretty sure he could have guessed at a civilian identity if he chose to think about it carefully, but he ultimately decided he didn't care enough to bother.

"Well you were right about looking out of place." Nightwing greeted as he slid onto the stool next to him. The attractive super hero was garnering a lot of notice pretty quickly, while Hartley had mostly managed to blend into the background.

"I, er…yeah." Hartley answered stupidly. Nightwing smirked and looked pointedly at the book lying open on the bar next to him.

"You brought a book with you?"

"I didn't know how long you'd be." Hartley said defensively. "It's not like I know what I'm doing here."

"Well that's obvious enough. You're a music guy. Do you dance or anything?"

Hartley glanced around the bar, for the first time contemplating joining in on some of the social activities he was witnessing.

"Isn't it a little early to be molested?" Hartley asked, noting that some of the 'dancing' was really just public sex with your clothes on.

Nightwing laughed. He leaned over and whispered in Hartley's ear, although despite the content of his message he made it look flirtatious. "You're supposed to be bait, remember? Molestation is in the job description. And come on dude, at least take your coat off."

Hartley frowned, suddenly that much more uncomfortable with the situation. He wasn't really much of an actor, and it was hard to find a reason to want to be in a place like this other than finding the murderer. He wasn't a fan of the volume of the music either. Thanks to his implants, he had one hell of a headache starting up. Plus he didn't really know how to dance to anything that wasn't formal, but he didn't want to admit it either.

Nightwing must have caught the obvious reluctance and discomfort, because he smiled reassuringly at Hartley and leaned forward for another exchange that looked much flirtier than it was to passersby. "I suppose jumping right in isn't necessary, but you need to loosen up at least a little. Check your coat, and while you're walking around try to see if there are any other guys in here that match the profile, okay? I'm gonna order us some drinks. We can people watch for a little bit. But don't act interested in me, we want to see who tries to pick you up."

"So why are you leaning into me, and isn't that your hand on my thigh?" Hartley returned. Nightwing winked.

"I'm your slutty friend, remember? The pretense for you being here?"

"Right, right." Hartley did as he was told and went to check his coat. It's not like he was wearing anything revealing under it or anything, so he didn't quite get the point.

As far as he could tell no one was really looking at him. He didn't consider himself overly attractive. Not like Nightwing anyway, who looked like some sort of movie star or sex god or something. He considered himself average, with a decent looking body that had a nice level of tone thanks to how often he had to run for his life or throw a well timed punch.

Nightwing was right about Bludhaven being mostly brunette. He counted three fair haired young men as he passed, one strawberry blond and two red heads. The blond one was overweight and the others were a little too short to fit the profile, so Hartley figured he was the most appealing piece of bait in the room.

When he got back to the bar stool Nightwing was talking with someone else, an attractive young man with unnaturally crimson hair decked out in fetish gear. The stranger was standing in front of Nightwing with his palms on the bar on either side. Nightwing looked up at him, laughed at something he said, and hooked a hand in the belt loop of the stranger's black leather.

Before Hartley had sat down they were off to get better acquainted.

"Great." He muttered. There went the plan of nice, safe people watching. He just hoped he wouldn't spend the brunt of the night alone.

* * *

Hartley made his way back to the loft alone some four hours later. He let himself in with the spare key he'd been given and immediately helped himself to Nightwing's shower. He smelled like dirty, sweaty people and at least half a glass of strawberry wine that an inebriated and overly friendly mulleted lesbian had spilled on him.

He exited the shower twenty minutes later, barefoot in cotton pajama pants and a t-shirt, wet hair dripping down his back. Nightwing was sitting on the couch with a laptop and a small pile of napkins and half sheets of papers.

"Oh good, I think I need a shower too. I still feel like there are hands crawling over me." He shook his head and laughed.

"The shower only did so much." Hartley said with a derisive snort. "I don't think I've ever had my ass grabbed so much in such a short space of time."

Nightwing shrugged. "Eh, the gays in Bludhaven are friendly. Besides dude, you reek of that fresh meat smell."

Hartley flopped onto the chair across from him and watched as Nightwing entered some information off of his paper slips into the laptop.

"What are you doing?" Hartley asked, curious.

"Oh, these are numbers I got tonight. I have a friend who's checking into my would-be suitors for me. See if there's anyone who blatantly doesn't belong." Nightwing explained.

"You got all those tonight?" Hartley repeated, stunned.

Nightwing looked at him with a quirked eyebrow. "Yeah…what?"

"There's got to be at least twenty pieces of paper there!"

"Twenty two actually. I was busy. What, didn't you get any numbers?"

He didn't answer. He didn't need to.

Nightwing shook his head. "That's hard to believe. You're gonna hafta try a little harder next time. I mean, there's an outside chance that I bumped into the killer or an associate despite not fitting the profile, but..."

"Sorry." Hartley said, though he didn't mean it. Nightwing had abandoned him with no instructions in under five minutes. What did he expect? "So…out of curiosity, did you have any thoughts about why the killer is profiling the way he is?"

"It's a little early to tell. I mean, he could be projecting characteristics of a specific person onto a larger group of similar looking people, but there could be more significance than that. In some Western European cultures, red hair was taken as a sign of magical ability or demonic association. The original Batgirl ran into problems with that more than once with crazy cults."

"Ah. I'm not in danger of ritualistic sacrifice, am I?" Hartley asked, startled.

Nightwing smirked, held up a hand and made an iffy motion. "Gotham was rife with crazy cults. I don't encounter them nearly as frequently in Bludhaven."

"Well that's a relief. So do you think this might be a hate crime then?"

"It's my pet theory about taking pointer fingers as his trophy. What appendage do you use to assign blame? If the guy is actually gay, I'd guess he was a self hater. So right now I'm looking for signs of an obvious closet case…" Nightwing turned back to the computer and scrolled through the information his friend had sent him. He nodded a few times then fed in another phone number.

"So how are you liking No God But God?" Nightwing asked suddenly, startling Hartley out of a reverie that involved shiny blades plunging towards his chest.

"Hm?"

"The book you brought to the bar. I read it a couple months back. I thought it was pretty good, although the narrative openings to the chapters threw me a little."

"Oh, yes well this is a work intended for a popular audience. Aslan's trying to appeal to the masses by putting some of his historical work in a basic story format. I'll forgive him for it because the rest of the book is so interesting." Hartley answered, almost on autopilot.

"I liked the chapter on Sufism the most I think. I'm planning on looking into it a little more. Never hurts to be better acquainted with mysticism in this line of work." Nightwing continued.

"I haven't gotten there yet. I suppose you're already familiar with Rumi?"

"Passing familiarity. His poems were a little too romantic for my mentor's taste. We focused on Zen for our mystic wisdom." Nightwing explained.

"Ah. I've never been a fan of koans myself."

"Oh God am I sick of koans. And being whacked with sticks while I'm meditating. By the way, sometimes sleep and intense concentration can look almost the same to whoever's watching you."

Hartley laughed. "You know I can't think of the last time I was able to discuss something I was reading with, well, anyone."

"Keystone not a particularly literate community?" Nightwing asked sympathetically.

Hartley snorted. "Linda got very excited when she read the Da Vinci Code and tried to discuss it with me."

"Oh no…you know I had a lot of friends tell me they thought I'd love it, but…eugh."

Hartley answered with a wide grin. "You just made me fantastically happy."

Nightwing winked. "I try. You know that kind of reminds me of back in the day when me and Wally were in the Teen Titans together. I was kind of the nerdy brain of the group. It wasn't much fun getting blank looks when I'd try to bring up what I was reading when everyone else was talking about vapid pop stars and stuff, so eventually I just stopped."

"Stopped attempting conversation, right? Not reading and general nerdery?"

"Oh god, of course not. I'm still a total nerdy brain, I just hide it in a socially acceptable exterior of debauchery."

Hartley laughed at that while Nightwing entered the last of the phone numbers. "Well, that'll keep her busy for a little while. I'm gonna grab that shower while my friend processes these."

"Alright, I think I'm done for the night."

"Night Hartley."

"Good night Nightwing."

* * *

Dick went to bed two hours after Piper and woke up three hours before him, thanks no doubt to his paranoid training. Piper had crashed on the couch, so for a while he was respectfully quiet, but after doing some stretches and eating breakfast he decided it was time to get back to work and so set up the laptop again in the living room, sitting across from the couch on an old arm chair.

The information Oracle had sent him wasn't terribly gripping; addresses, arrest records, psychological evaluations, employment histories and records of donations to charitable organizations. Dick was on the lookout for anything that didn't match a well adjusted gay man, but there weren't any blazingly obvious hints in the info. Affiliation with a conservative right-wing hate-group would have been nice.

Every now and then Dick glanced away from the computer screen and snuck a look at Piper. He'd kicked off most of the blanket and the t-shirt was riding up, exposing a bit of hip bone and about an inch of well defined abdominal muscle. He really was an attractive man, it was hard to believe he hadn't gotten a single phone number. People were probably just too afraid to approach him, given the haughty exterior he projected, although Dick was beginning to think that that was mostly accidental. Wally had said Piper was looking for a guy, and Dick was sure that if he'd known what he was doing he would have found one by now.

Piper finally woke with a yawn and a stretch that exposed a bit more of his flat stomach. Dick looked away just in time not to be caught staring and went back to his data.

"Mm…morning." Piper greeted groggily.

Dick nodded at him.

"Anything good?" Piper got up and leaned over the back of the chair to peer over his shoulder.

"Nothing so far. Well, there are a couple of organizations listed here I don't recognize, so I'm sending a request for more info back to my informant." He explained.

"What organizations?" The Pied Piper was inadvertently kinda hot when he first woke up. While groggy, his inhibitions weren't as up front as they usually were and, unbeknownst to him, his body language was pretty flirty. Plus he was exhaling on Dick's ear.

'Bring it down man-slut. This is one of Wally's good friends, which makes him a very bad choice for a fling.' Dick reminded himself.

"Let's see…" Dick stalled, scrolling back up and looking for the groups he hadn't recognized. "Order of the Thorny Dawn…Beagle Busters and…Brothers in the Power of Saving Grace. That last one sounds interesting. I just googled Beagle Busters, it's just a dog-walking exercise group."

"I know the last one." Piper said quietly. "Er, my father had considered, well very briefly considered…sending me to them. It's…one of those church groups that try to pray the gay out of you."

"Ah. Red flag that one then. Looks like Mr…Paul DaCosta was and still is an active member. Should have known something was up. He maintained eye contact with me the whole time we were talking."

"Well you do have lovely eyes." Piper said around a yawn. Dick didn't know how to respond to that. Any of his usual responses to that type of compliment probably would have made Piper uncomfortable, so he decided to just let it go.

"Okay, I'm going to call Paul and see if he wants to meet up tonight. Hm." Dick paused to consider. He turned around and looked Piper up and down, which seemed to make him a little nervous, but curious. "I think I'm going to ask him to bring a friend for you."

"Me? Why?"

"Well I'll tell him it's because he seemed nervous so a double date would probably be more comfortable, but really, if he is the killer this is an opportunity to see if he has a partner and who it might be."

"Ah. Nightwing, can I ask you something?"

"Sure." Dick started up an e-mail to Oracle thanking her for her help and included a variety of LolzCat images at the bottom in payment.

"Is there something I should call you other than Nightwing?"

Dick sighed. "I can't tell you my real name. It's not that I don't trust you. If nothing else I trust Wally, but it's not just my secret I'm keeping. You really would be able to guess a few other heroes from me."

"No, that's fine. But if we're going on a double date tonight it would look pretty bizarre for me to call you Nightwing all night." Piper pointed out.

"Ah. True enough. Nathan Reese should work. I'm trying to expand my repertoire of aliases."

"Thanks." Piper said with a nod.

Dick finished his email, checked his facebook and sent Tim a message on it before shutting down the computer. By the time he'd finished, Hartley had gotten dressed and was munching on a piece of toast.

"Any plans for the daylight hours?" He asked.

"I've got to put some time in with my day job actually, so you're alone for awhile." Dick answered. He cast a glance at the clock and frowned. He had to get going pretty soon actually, which was a little annoying. He'd liked talking to Piper the other night about things unrelated to rape and murder. It had been ages since he'd had a good discussion about a book with anyone else too…well at least in person. He got his nerdy-brain time in with Babs and Tim online, but it just wasn't the same as a real conversation.

"Oh." Hartley looked a little upset at the news too. He shrugged it off. "Guess I'll get better acquainted with the city today then."


	4. Chapter 4

Paul did in fact agree to the date and managed to scrape up a friend for Hartley, though the friend seemed about as pleased with the situation as Hartley had been comfortable being groped in the bar. The man, Rupert, was tall, in his late thirties and far too stiff to be at all attractive. Paul, on the other hand, was only a little younger than Hartley, with a charismatic voice and relaxed demeanor that made him memorable and likeable, though there was something artificial about it.

The two couples shared an awkward meal together, during which "Nathan" and Paul did most of the talking. Nightwing kept shooting Hartley pointed looks whenever he could do so without the others noticing, but Hartley wasn't sure what he was supposed to be doing. He'd tried engaging Rupert in conversation more than once but had managed nothing more than one word answers in return.

While the four were walking around downtown after dinner he finally stumbled onto a conversation topic that got Rupert going. He mentioned the book he'd been reading and Rupert suddenly got very impassioned, talking about Islam as a perversion of true religion, that it was inherently violent and blasphemous, and had only emerged out of an ignorant Arab's muddled understanding of Christianity anyway.

Hartley wasn't sure what to say when Rupert's rant finally died down. He tried speaking a few times before he got something out. "Ah, you know…that's, that's just a different impression from what…what I've gotten from Aslan."

"Well he's wrong then. Why would you read filth by some towel head anyway?" Rupert asked with a scowl.

"To better understand his perspective, I suppose. But Reza Aslan's actually American." Hartley pointed out. Nightwing and Paul were walking in front of them, chatting so animatedly they appeared to have forgotten all about their companions. Hartley glared daggers at the back of Nightwing's head, wishing for help. He got plenty of this bullshit in the Midwest, thank you. 'Change of scenery my ass'.

Rupert rolled his eyes. "You're one of them liberals, aren't you?"

"I'm gay." Hartley said simply, as though that explained everything. "You're not one of those confused log-cabin republicans, are you?" He returned. Rupert was not amused. He reached forward and tugged on the sleeve of Paul's jacket.

"Hey Paul, this isn't working for me. I'm gonna catch a cab. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Oh." Paul looked startled. "Fine then, I guess." Before he could finish Rupert had stalked off muttering angrily under his breath. Nightwing regarded Hartley with an amused smirk.

"Wow. What'd you do?" He asked.

"I didn't do anything!" Hartley insisted. "He wouldn't talk to me, and I was getting sick of making up things to say, so I told him about the book I was reading and he went on a paranoid Christian rant and then called me a liberal and left. I actually wasn't on a soapbox this time or anything!" Not that he had a problem with that sort of thing…

"Oh, yeah, guess I shoulda mentioned. Rupe's not exactly what I'd call secure with his leanings." Paul said apologetically. "Bit of a self-hater actually. I thought if I could introduce him to a few guys who were more confident about it, it'd help him out."

"Where did you even meet a guy like that?" Nightwing asked, shaking his head. The answer was obvious, given what they'd read about Paul that morning. Hartley was impressed with Nightwing's acting ability.

"This group, Brothers in the Power of Saving Grace. It's this church thing that's supposed to help you deal with the demon homosexuality. My grandparents forced me to go when I was a teen and all it really did was make me feel down about myself, propelled me into this real dark time. So after I cleared up my real demons with professionals in therapy, I went back to the group and stayed active with it. Most of the guys they force to go to it aren't gonna be taken in, but when I catch a guy like Rupe, who can't take the judgment, I try to befriend him and make sure they don't knock his self-esteem down too much, y'know?"

"That's pretty decent of you Paul." Nightwing said with an approving smile. Paul laughed, obviously pleased with the praise.

"Yeah, well, it's rough, cause you gotta pretend you buy into their bull or they won't let you back. Anyway, sorry about my friend running off on you."

"Oh, don't worry about it. I've been through worse. I guess I'll just head in now so you two can finish your date." He offered.

"Home already? It's not even ten yet. Come on, good looking guy like you, we can find you someone." Paul insisted. He took Hartley's arm and started pulling him along the sidewalk, heading towards the neighborhood he and Dick had been casing the previous night.

"Oh yay, more gay bars." Hartley muttered under his breath.

* * *

Once more Dick and Hartley got in at different times, but this time Hartley got back to the loft about an hour later. Dick was on his laptop once more, checking out Paul's story and occasionally swearing under his breath.

"Well this has been a total waste of time." He said when he heard the door open. "I'm pretty sure Paul's telling the truth, which means he has no motive whatsoever to be our killer. Great, we pretty much get to start over."

He looked up when several slips of paper were dropped over the keyboard. Hartley was less than steady on his feet and smiling tipsily at him. "It's a few less than twenty two, but I think I did alright."

"Not bad at all." Dick said approvingly. He immediately looked to see if Babs was online and started feeding her the names and numbers on the slips. "Well done Piper."

"Thanks. It was miserable though." He flopped onto the sofa, still wearing his coat and shoes. Quite a lot of his hair had escaped its elastic, and it was hanging all over his face. "I had to drink a lot more alcohol than I ex-expec…ted, and I had to, to, well, not talk about…anything worth talking about and…God, is this what it takes to meet people?" He mumbled, mostly to himself.

Dick closed the laptop and observed the slightly inebriated and clearly unhappy young man opposite him. "We're working, you were just acting. I wouldn't start applying these experiences to the rest of your life."

He shrugged. "Yes, well while I was a…acting, more people were talk-ing to me th-than they ever have before. Apparently fake me is more inneresting than th'real one."

"Or just seems more slutty. It's not necessarily a good tradeoff you know." Dick thought for a moment about what to say next. "Piper, I really don't think your dry spell is an indication of anything other than poor luck in company. You're an incredibly clever, well spoken guy, and pretty hot besides. If you weren't friends with one of my best friends, I'd probably…"

Dick stopped himself when he noticed that Piper's eyelids had drooped shut and he was drooling slightly as he snored. He rolled his eyes, removed Hartley's shoes and threw a blanket over him.

* * *

Hartley woke the next morning with a mouth so dry it felt like he'd been gagged with a sock. He groaned and pulled the blanket up over his head to block the sunlight. He gave himself a few minutes to build himself up and then pulled the blanket down to start the search for water.

A bottle of water and some aspirin were laid out on the coffee table in front of him, along with a note from Nightwing. Apparently Order of the Thorny Dawn had been referenced in his phone numbers as well, and his informant hadn't been able to find more info on them, so that was the lead they were going to pursue.

He had some time to kill before Nightwing got back from…whatever he was doing with his days, so he tried cracking open his book again, but the ensuing head ache made him close it.

"Dammit." He muttered. A computer screen would probably be just as bad for his head ache.

He ended up killing the time with the television turned on very softly, marveling at the depths day time television had sunk to since he'd last had to watch any. He'd probably drunk almost a gallon of water when Nightwing finally returned, dressed in flattering civilian clothes and sans mask once more. He looked familiar…Hartley was sure he could have figured out Nightwing's secret identity if he wanted to put the effort into it, but he decided he didn't. He respected Nightwing's wish to remain anonymous.

"Hey Piper. Feeling better?"

"Pardon?"

Nightwing grinned. "You were pretty buzzed last night when you came in. I figured there'd be a hangover."

"I'm friends with the Wests. I've dealt with hangovers before." Hartley said defensively. Nightwing quirked an eyebrow and he realized how that sounded. "Er, I was referring to the gatherings they host. Super bowl parties and whatnot?"

"I know Wally and Linda aren't lushes, it's okay." Nightwing laughed.

"Well anyway, thanks for the aspirin."

"No problem. You read my note, right?"

"Mm hmm. I was wondering what our next step is going to be on this case. It's going to be difficult to enquire after this Thorny Dawn group, isn't it?" Hartley asked.

"Oh yeah. Getting phone numbers was the easy part. I called in some favors with friends, so they're all checking their records for me, but I don't want to just sit around wasting time waiting for them to get back to us. I was thinking we'd hit one of the other bars, keep an ear out for gossip and get a big pile of numbers between us and then see if we get the Thorny Dawn popping up again. I'm not really sure it's worth investigating, but I just have a feeling about it. And at this point I follow my feelings."

"Right. Er, sounds good." Hartley lied.

"Don't worry, we figured out your secret last night. Get a little liquor in you and the numbers will roll in."

"Joy of joys."


	5. Chapter 5

Dick kept half an eye on Hartley for most of the night, but lost track of him while chatting up a particularly needy older man with wandering hands. Once he'd extracted himself from that unpleasantness he didn't end up finding Piper again for a couple hours, and when he did it was under surprising circumstances. Piper must have been buzzed again, because he was attempting to dance with a really hot guy in goth gear…who actually looked familiar.

Piper had to have been uncomfortable as hell, but he did a good job hiding it. Whether he realized it or not, the way he played his inexperience at clubbing was very endearing. The goth guy looked pleased about getting to teach him how to grind. Actually it was pretty hot…Dick hung back to watch.

Meanwhile Hartley was indeed intensely uncomfortable, but also somewhat pleased with himself. He wasn't drunk this time. This time, he'd gotten the other young man's attention through almost honest conversation (he hadn't given his real reason for being in the bar, obviously. Katt, the man he was attempting to dance with, had asked him about it, figuring out that clubbing was not a normal activity for him).

Katt leaned in close to both put his hands on Hartley's hips and whisper in his ear. "There's a guy over there staring at you. He's not your boyfriend or something, is he?"

"Hm?"

Katt tilted his head. Hartley looked to the side and noticed Nightwing eyeing him with an unreadable expression.

"Oh that's Ni-Nathan, I'm here with him tonight, but we're just friends." He assured Katt quickly.

"Well hon, he doesn't look like he wants to be just friends to me." Katt pointed out with a pleased smile. His hands wandered lower and Hartley had to work very hard to pretend he liked having his ass groped by a near-perfect stranger.

It was kind of flattering though.

"I think I'm getting the principle of this." Hartley joked. "It's just rhythmic molestation then?"

"Pretty much. Way more fun than waltzing." Katt returned. "You have an amazing body." He returned huskily. "I never would have guessed..." His hands were roaming again. "Mm…all muscle. I bet you'd rock leather pretty well."

Hartley laughed. "Not my thing. You do quite well with it though."

"Why thank you. Ever groped a guy's ass through leather pants before?"

"I take it that's an invitation?"

"Mm, please do."

Hartley happened to catch Nightwing's facial expression when he grabbed Katt's ass and wasn't quite able to keep a straight face. Hm, maybe he _was_…no, just surprised. And why shouldn't he be? Hartley was surprised enough at himself.

He completely lost track of time while they were dancing and chatting. More than once, other men tried to pick up Katt, and he politely turned them down to remain with Hartley. The few times someone showed interest in him he did the same, although he figured Nightwing wouldn't be happy about it later. They were supposed to be getting different phone numbers after all, and Katt was only the second person he'd spoken with.

Somehow they ended up maneuvered into a corner of the main room, and Hartley found himself with his back against a wall and Katt pressed up against his front. Katt kissed him, tasting of cigarettes and something fruity, which was an almost pleasant mix. He was a very good kisser, actually, and attractive and funny…and suddenly red flares went off in Hartley's mind.

Why would an assertive and attractive alternatively dressed young man go after an uptight, slightly-too-old-for-this-establishment nerd? Maybe he hadn't been wasting his night, because none of that made the remotest bit of sense to him. As Katt had so aptly noted before, there was no way of discerning from Hartley's attire that he had a nice body, and he certainly didn't have glamorous features like Katt or Nightwing. But he was one of a handful of naturally light haired men in the bar.

Katt wrote his number on Hartley's hand and kissed his wrist. "It's been fan-fucking-tastic but I've gotta bust out. I'm late already anyway. Are you gonna be around tomorrow night?"

"I, I think so." Hartley answered dazedly. Katt grinned at him.

"Wicked. Call me."

"Sure."

He'd barely recovered from a very enthusiastic goodbye from Katt when hands wound around his waist from behind. His impulse was to throw the person over his shoulder, but Nightwing whispered in his ear and he managed to still that urge.

"I take it you found a lead from the guy in the bondage gear? Interesting taste, by the by."

Oh God, Nightwing was 'dancing' with him and expecting him to talk about the case at the same time? He wasn't really sure he could do both. Wow…his hands were almost as friendly as Katt's, which didn't match his business-like tone at all.

Hartley turned in his arms to face him before answering, which wasn't better for his concentration. His face was an inch from Nightwing's perfect, sculpted features and his incredibly lovely blue eyes.

Damn he was hot.

Damn Wally for suggesting this… although he wasn't as mad as he should have been about the awkward situation.

"I, um, did get Katt's number and…I think his level of inter-interest in me is suspicious." Hartley finally managed to choke out. Nightwing's fingers were dancing over the hem of his jeans, raising excited sensations on the skin of his abdomen.

"Why?"

"Huh?"

"Why was his level of interest suspicious?" Nightwing asked. Their mouths were very close together.

"He, er, shouldn't have…I don't think I seem like his type. Isn't that suspicious?"

Nightwing's very nearby lips lifted in a smirk. "He might have just noticed how hot you are."

"I'm not-"

"Yes you are." And then somehow for the second time that night a man who was far too gorgeous to be interested in him was kissing him…and somehow his back wound up pressed against a wall again…and his hands were tugging on Nightwing's thick dark hair while he sucked on Hartley's lower lip…

Okay, so maybe there was something to this hotness suggestion.

* * *

Dick circled his thumb slowly over Piper's hip bone while he kissed him breathless. 'Cut it out, you're working, you're working…oh fuck it'. He decided it was a decent time of night to head in. Plus people were staring, and whereas he didn't mind putting on a show he wasn't sure how his companion felt about that.

"Wanna head back to the loft?" He asked around what he was sure was one hell of a suave smile. Hartley was breathing heavily and took a moment to process what he'd said enough to answer.

"Y-yeah. Sounds good."

"Good."

They went for the exit without stopping for their coats and shared a tension filled cab ride back to the loft. It really only took about ten minutes, but it felt longer than that while he just stared at the hot, intelligent and available older man next to him. Hartley wasn't the hottest guy he'd ever been with, but that had more to do with how he dressed and carried himself than how he actually looked. Dick imagined he'd be fine without his clothes on.

'Calm down. You were only kissing him. We might not even be going there' he told himself as they walked upstairs. He tried to remind himself why he'd been holding back anyway. Something about Flash eviscerating him…somehow it didn't seem as important at the moment.

They got inside and Hartley started toeing his shoes off while Dick locked the door. When he turned around, Hartley pushed him up against it and crushed their mouths together. He moaned and clung to the hot redhead while they ground their hips together.

'I'm sending Wally a fruit basket' Dick thought to himself.

"Bed…God, now. Bed." Dick moaned, less than articulately.

"I concur. Good plan." Piper agreed.

They stumbled into Dick's bedroom. He fell backwards onto the mattress and pulled Piper on top of him. Hartley threw a hand out to brace himself and ended up leaning over Dick, a hot little smile on his face. Dick ran his hands appreciatively up his sides and then around under his t-shirt, feeling the toned abdominal muscles he'd been admiring the previous morning.

Hartley leaned in for another passionate kiss, and Dick snaked a hand up behind his head to take out the elastic, as gently as he was able to anyway. Hartley cringed a little when some of his hair was snagged, but he leaned away and twisted his head to help, and a few seconds later his hair spilled free. Dick combed his fingers through the light orange strands, enjoying the feel and sight of it. Hartley looked a little amused.

"I kinda have a thing for red heads." Dick admitted.

"Lucky me, I guess." Hartley said with a smile. He cut off whatever banter Dick may have had with another searing kiss. God he knew what he was doing, which was a rare treat when Dick slept with men.

Then again, most of the men he'd been with weren't quite sure if they were gay, bi or whatever and had used him as a guinea pig to find out. That wasn't exactly the case for Hartley, who was only too happy to demonstrate this with his ease in popping the button to Dick's jeans, pulling the zipper and getting his hand inside in one smooth motion.

"Oh, fuck…" Dick moaned. While his hand worked, Hartley kissed along Dick's neck until he felt the right kind of shiver, and he started sucking.

'Yep, fruit basket. Apples, mangoes…' Dick thought, because he could already feel himself losing control and they were still mostly clothed.

"This is going to be a good night, isn't it?" Dick asked breathlessly.

"I take it you have lube and condoms?"

"Yes."

"Then it's going to be a very good night."

* * *

Three nights seemed like plenty of time for a hook up with Nightwing to Wally. Linda had been surprised he'd manipulated them into working together instead of a straightforward date, like the crap-tacular one she'd set up with Eric, but Wally had told her that that just showed how little she understood about costumed adventuring. In the right conditions, team-ups were like foreplay.

Wally waited until about eleven o'clock, then showed up at Dick's place with a tray of coffees, deciding he'd innocently offer his aid to the crime fighters. He knocked on the door and waited, a little anxious about the fate of his fifty bucks. Somehow joint finances were able to keep him from buying things he wanted but Linda found pointless, yet still allowed Linda to get her hair and nails done every month.

Dick answered the door some minutes later, looking distinctly groggy but pleased and only wearing boxers. "Oh, hey Wally. What are you doing here?"

"Passing through. Thought I'd see if I could help you guys out with your serial killer." Wally offered innocently. He held out his tray of coffees and Dick stepped aside to let him in. Wally sat down in the living room area on a couch that had a pillow and blanket on it, but no sleeping Pied Piper. His stomach did an excited little flip-flop, because unless he was somehow mistaken, Dick had most certainly had sex the previous night. He wo-on, he wo-on, he wo-on! Fifty bucks, whoo hoo!

Dick shut the door and snagged a coffee. He also went to the bathroom and came back with a bathrobe, but didn't bother tying it, which kind of rendered it pointless. Well, the original Robin costume had kind of proven he was less than modest.

"So where's Piper?" Wally asked. "I wanted to say hi."

"Huh? Oh right, sure." Dick took a sip of coffee and rubbed blearily at his eyes, then made his way towards his bedroom. He opened the door and leaned against it. "Hey Piper, Wally's here."

Wally wondered if he should look surprised his friend was sleeping in Dick's bedroom, or maybe he should pretend to be scandalized. 'Slow down hotshot, Dick could have been sleeping on the couch and offering his guest the bed to be hospitable. Don't jump to conclusions' he reminded himself.

Then Hartley walked into the living room with an embarrassed flush on his pasty-pale face, his long hair messy and mostly in his face, and wearing a Bludhaven PD gym shirt and pajama pants that were most certainly not his. "Hi Wally. Good morning." He mumbled.

Wally considered feigning scandalized shock a moment longer, but couldn't keep the amused grin off his face so gave it up. "Hey Hartley. So…you guys are getting along I take it?"

"Oh shut up." Hartley was bright red. Dick laughed, then eyed Wally warily.

"You're not mad, right?"

Wally looked taken aback. "Why would I be mad that my friends hit it off? Good for you guys."

"Oh thank God." Dick actually looked like he'd been nervous. Piper looked surprised at his reaction too. "I just figured, you know, considering my reputation…that you wouldn't want me…uh, I mean since he's your friend…" Dick seemed to realize he was painting himself in unflattering colors.

"Reputation?" Hartley repeated. "Is there something I should be concerned about?"

"He's a man-slut." Wally said, mouth going before his brain caught up. Dick glared at him, while Hartley mumbled something to his hands and managed to somehow turn even more red. "Uh, that is to say, I, er, I mean…"

"No, you're right. I'm a man-slut. But Piper, I do like you…and I meant what I said last night." Dick crossed the room to the armchair Piper had sat in, stroked back some of the messy red hair and kissed the side of his face. Wally looked away, his icky-senses tingling.

"Let's just finish this case together and then we can see where this goes afterwards, alright?" Hartley mumbled, almost inaudibly.

Dick frowned. He looked stung, but he recovered quickly, with an only-slightly-forced looking smile. "Yeah, sure. Nice and professional from hereon out." He turned to Wally. "So you wanna help, right? Well let's get you up to speed."

Oh right, pretense for being here. Shit. He couldn't tell if Linda would count one night and an awkward morning as worthy of his fifty dollars.

He decided it was worth his while to stay around and help them along so his victory would be unquestioned.

"Yeah, sure. What've you guys got so far?"


	6. Chapter 6

"Hello?"

"Hey Linda, do you have a minute?"

"Oh hi Piper. Yeah, of course." Linda cradled the phone with her shoulder and made to shut down her

laptop. "I was just taking advantage of the quiet of the house to get some work done. Wally might leave a lot for super hero work, but he comes back frequently enough to check up on me, and every time he does my papers get blown all over the living room. I was thinking I'd do better if I switched from notebooks to my laptop."

"Sounds like a plan. Let me know if you need any help backing all your work up."

"Sure. So why'd you call? Things going okay in Bludhaven?" Linda asked. Piper sounded uncomfortable, like he wanted to avoid a subject and talk about it at length at the same time. She had a sneaking suspicion her husband had done something stupid.

"It's…it's alright…um, so how well do you know Nightwing?"

"Well I know he's one of Wally's oldest friends, and that he's one of the best heroes out there. Why? Did something happen?"

"Have you heard…anything about him being…a manslut?"

"Yep. So you slept with him?" Linda guessed.

"…maybe."

"_Hartley_! I thought you said you were looking for a real relationship and not just a hook-up! You haven't even been in Bludhaven for a week! I know the man's gorgeous, but still! That's not enough time for a deep and meaningful bond."

"Thanks. I already feel stupid enough on my own you know."

"Sorry."

"Look, it's just…he's very charming and I did feel like we were connecting. We had some good conversations, and he was being flirty and I've been so lonely lately…but hearing about him having this reputation, it's just got me thinking everything over, and now I can't help but wonder if what I'd thought was us connecting was just some calculated throwaway comments to get me into bed."

"Well, Piper, I mean he's really Wally's friend, not mine, but from what I know Nightwing is pretty up front with people about this stuff. If he's looking for a fling, you know it's a fling. If he's looking for a relationship then he gets invested in it."

"Okay…"

"So if you guys were having real conversations then that's a good sign." Linda shoved her laptop aside and stood up, pacing while she talked.

"We were talking about books and being nerds."

"Oh." Damn, that had nothing to do with relationships.

"And we fell into bed after going out clubbing and bar hopping."

"Oh." And that had everything to do with casual sex.

"Yeah." Well at least Piper sounded aware of all that.

"Well hon I don't really know what to make of that. I can kill my husband for you when he gets back, if you'd like." Linda offered. "He'd never see it coming."

"Thanks, but it's okay. I'll just…have to have a really awkward conversation with Nightwing, that's all. Figure out what's going on."

"…are you actually into him then?" She asked, wincing.

"You don't like him." Piper said, not a hint of a question in his tone.

"Like I keep saying, I don't really know him. He's Wally's friend, as opposed to you, who is friends with both of us."

"Thank you for saying so, but you're not changing the subject. Why don't you like him?"

"Look, it's not that I don't like him, I just don't like the idea of him…dating one of my friends. He's Bat-Family. They're all kind of screwed up."

"Duly noted." Piper sighed. "Well I'd better get going. We still don't have much of a lead in this damned case, so I'd best get dressed and get to work. The guys are already out looking for more info."

"The guys?"

"Yeah, Wally showed up this morning and offered to help."

"Oh. Well isn't that interesting. Take care Piper. When you get back to Keystone we can grab a coffee together and bitch about stupid boys, if you want."

"Sounds lovely. Bye Linda."

"Bye."

* * *

Hartley exited the bathroom later that afternoon, toweling off his hair and wearing his own clothes again. He definitely didn't need to be reminded of how easily he'd been seduced into bed by a man that was apparently a very charming scoundrel. He scowled, disgusted at himself, and flopped onto the couch in a blessedly empty living room. It didn't stay that way for long, unfortunately.

Nightwing came in through the window, wearing his costume again, while Hartley was brushing out his tangles.

"Hey…were you working on the case?" Hartley asked. He flipped his hair out of his face and noticed that Nightwing was staring at him. He made eye contact for a moment…kind of. He wasn't sure it really counted, since Nightwing's eyes were whited out by that damn mask, but it was still uncomfortable as all hell, so he looked away and pretended like brushing his hair took a lot more concentration than it did.

"There was another murder last night."

"Oh no…was it Katt?" He asked, for some reason sure the flirty young man had gotten himself in trouble. His stomach lurched at the thought. Hartley had convinced himself at some point during the afternoon that he would have been much better off leaving with Katt instead of Nightwing.

"It wasn't Katt, but we did know him. Rupert was found in a dumpster outside a bar with his pointer fingers removed." Nightwing informed him.

"Did he…did he even fit the profile?" Hartley asked, surprised. "He was a little tall, wasn't he?"

"Taller end of the profile, but he fit it." Nightwing frowned, obviously upset with himself. "I suppose this makes Paul a suspect again."

Hartley shook his head. "I think Paul was genuine."

"I thought so too, but we can't discount him being a good actor." Nightwing sat down on the couch and peeled his mask off, a look of self loathing on his face. "This is my fault. I should have noticed Rupert fit the profile and-"

"And what? Have him followed? Slip a tracer onto his back? There was nothing you could have done. You can't protect everyone in this city who has an outside chance of getting hurt. It's ridiculous to even think that's possible."

"Well that is my goal." Nightwing pointed out with a wry smirk. His eyes looked haunted. "I…I saw him days before he was killed. I should have picked something up by now."

"What about the Thorny Dawn Order? It might be a genuine lead." Hartley pressed. Nightwing sighed.

"Actually, I did get some interesting stuff from my digging." He admitted. "Katt's in the Order, and I figured out why he looked so familiar. He flirted with me the first night you got here. Remember? When you went to check your coat?"

"Oh, right." Hartley hadn't noticed. "Hm. He didn't act like he knew you."

"He gave me his number and acted interested, but not like he was with you. And when he was half heartedly trying to pick me up he asked me a fair few questions about my friend at the bar. I'm starting to think his interest in you is a little suspicious, actually."

Hartley swallowed uncomfortably. "Does this mean I should give him a call tonight?"

Nightwing nodded. "Couldn't hurt. You flirt it up with Katt, see if you can steer the conversation towards the Thorny Dawn this time, and meanwhile I'll call up Paul and offer him my sympathies and see what he knows."

"Alright…where's Wally?" Hartley asked. He wasn't sure what that would leave Wally to do for the night, assuming he still wanted to help.

"Oh, he had to head back to Keystone to get chewed out by Linda over something." Nightwing shrugged. "He said not to wait for him." Hartley nodded. "Oh, and Piper…thanks. I…I know I can't save everyone, but…well thanks for trying."

"Not at all. Let's just keep our psychopath from hurting anyone else, shall we?"

* * *

Wally found Linda standing in the living room looking out the window, an unreadable expression on her face, and decided he might actually be in trouble. He left again before she noticed him and came back with roses.

"Hey hon-"

"Ah, so you know you're in trouble." She glanced at the flowers, a smirk of doom on her pretty face. Wally's stomach lurched.

"I do sense a good amount of danger, but I'm not really sure what it's for. Can you take pity on me or are you going to make me squirm?" Wally asked, figuring the direct route would serve him best.

"So I got a call from Piper this morning while you and Nightwing were out doing some legwork on your case…by the way, you didn't tell me you were planning on helping them with it." Linda said.

"Yeah, well I mean I wasn't…but um I wanted to see how they were getting along and it, it seemed like a good excuse at the time." Wally mumbled.

Linda folded her arms across her chest. "Your matchmaking made Piper feel like dirt. I think your should talk to him."

"Hey, he called you! Don't you throw me under the bus." Wally distinctly did not like the idea of talking with Piper about his 'feelings', at least not when they were centered on Nightwing.

"I told you it was a bad idea to fix him up with Nightwing, and you did it anyway!" Linda exploded.

"You bet me to do it!" Wally reminded her. "And for the record, Dick really likes him. Hartley's just thrown because I mentioned that Dick's a manslut, so, so I dunno…what's his problem anyway?"

Linda shook her head, surprised at his thickness. Although sometimes she wondered if heterosexual men really couldn't understand this particular kind of shame. "You don't get how being charmed into bed by someone who apparently does that sort of thing to people all the time is a little embarrassing?"

Wally frowned, mostly because he'd been the type to do the charming into bed…until he'd gotten married anyway. Linda had clearly followed his train of thought.

"Silly me, why would that occur to someone who used women the way you did?"

"I'm not supposed to be in trouble! I didn't do anything wrong. Piper's just making a big deal out of nothing. Dick wants to date him, and Dick's a good guy. I did him a favor." He really needed to change the course of the conversation before they were fighting about Magenta again.

Linda looked far from convinced of Nightwing's merits. "If the Bat-slut hurts our friend, you're never seeing a penny of non-joint finances money again. Every cent of spare cash will go to college funds for our future children."

"Love you too honey. I'll drop by again tonight, but I really should be out helping the guys with their murder case." Wally kissed her cheek before racing out the door and back to Bludhaven, desperate to cut that conversation off before it could progress any further.

* * *

When he got back to Dick's loft he found a note on the table for him informing him of the plans for the night. He read it back to himself a couple times in case he'd missed something, but no, there were almost no instructions in it.

"Hey Wally, Piper and I each have leads we're working tonight. He's meeting a person of interest at one of the gay bars downtown and I'm tailing a suspect. We're going to meet back here at the end of the night and trade notes. See you later, N." Wally scowled. "Well what the hell am I supposed to do?"

He zipped into the other room and threw on civilian clothes, figuring he might as well cruise around and see if he bumped into one of the jerks so he could ask for better instructions. Since Dick had been slightly less vague about Piper's activities he made an effort to quash his flaring icky sense and went to seek out the location of the nearest gay bar.


	7. Chapter 7

Hartley nodded dully at something Katt had said, and then winced, rubbing at his temples.

He was just about fed up with bar hopping. The almost overpowering odor of cigarettes, sweat and spray on cologne was making him nauseous while at the same time almost blending in; he didn't notice the cigarette smoke unless he thought about it while still being sickened by it. Then there was the noise-in addition to the obnoxiously loud pulsing music there were all the people shouting to have conversations over it, a constant loud buzz trying to pull his attention in too many possible directions at once.

Super senses sucked. He took another sip of water and silently prayed for a lead in the damned case.

Katt leaned over and touched the side of Hartley's face, skin cool and smooth. Piper found himself leaning into the caress. Katt frowned, concerned. "Hey there Beautiful, are you okay?"

"Mm, yeah, fine. Just got a headache."

"Well then let's get out of here. The air might help."

"Okay."

Katt led him towards the exit, while Hartley cringed and rubbed at the bridge of his nose, too distracted by his discomfort to pay much attention to his surroundings.

Which was a shame because Wally was trying to get his attention from across the other end of the bar's main room. "God dammit, you have super robot hearing." Wally grumbled. "Piper! Hey! Look up!" He tried to jostle through the crowd, but was stopped by a rather insistent hand on his chest.

"Slow down Red, there a fire or something?" A young man with almost neon red hair and black roots grinned, looking Wally up and down. He eeped and back up, the man's bondage heavy outfit doing nothing to calm his flaring icky sense. The stranger laughed. "Sorry, but you're knocking into people and spilling drinks everywhere."

"Oh, damn, I'm sorry." Ah. Maybe he wasn't being hit on by a gay dominatrix.

"Don't worry Sweetcheeks, I'm sure you're enough of a gentleman to make it up to me." The man flashed a predatory smile.

_'Shit_!' Wally mentally eeped, smile turning forced as he remembered he should probably look like he wanted to be hit on if he wanted to blend in. "Y-yeah, I'd like to, but, um…I just saw a friend of mine that I was looking for, and I should really-"

"Buy me a drink, I concur." The man grabbed Wally's arm and yanked him towards the bar.

And if Wally were able to pass through solid matter without making it explode he wouldn't have hesitated to make a hasty exit.

* * *

Meanwhile Katt and Hartley were having quite the nerdy conversation while walking around the streets of Bludhaven. The air (smog infested though it was) did a lot to clear Piper's head, and he started enjoying himself.

Which was distracting in its own way. He needed to figure out how to steer the conversation towards the Order of the Thorny Dawn, dammit.

"So yeah, I was thinking about going on and getting my masters from there, like in religious studies or something, but it seemed like kind of a waste of time." Katt rambled. "I mean, mainstream education doesn't really explore the more interesting aspects of what I'm interested in."

"Right, you'd be surprised how many people don't understand the difference between Theology and Religious Studies." Hartley agreed. Katt laughed.

"Not surprised in the least, but that wasn't fully what I was getting at. What about you? Did you sacrifice four to eight years of your life to the mediocrity of higher education?"

"Nope. Wanted to though. I wanted to study ethnomusicology, but my parents strongly objected to the impracticality of learning for learning's sake. There, er, aren't many jobs for ethnomusicologists but you do need a doctorate, so it would have been a lot of money for little real gain." Hartley sighed. "I guess now that I'm an independent adult I could always go back, but…"

"Yeah. You can learn more on your own anyway." Katt said with a nod. "I mean, I've learned way more since joining up with the guys in TD than I ever did in a classroom."

"TD?" Hartley asked, surprised at his luck. Katt averted his eyes, a slight blush on his cheeks. He covered his embarrassment by lighting a cigarette.

"The Thorny Dawn. Look, don't laugh-"

"I won't." Hartley promised.

"I'm in a secret society."

"What, like the freemasons or something?"

"Kinda. We don't claim to have a long standing mythic past, or like we have control over political events or anything. Frankly, if we did the world might be in better shape. We believe in cultivating personal power and responsibility. Everyone works for what they get with no free rides, but everyone gets a fair chance to progress."

"Any similarity to Marxism?" Hartley asked, intrigued.

"We're a little red, yeah." Katt laughed, and motioned to his obnoxiously dyed red hair. "It's kind of a joke, but kinda not. See, red represents power and vitality-"

"According to who?"

"Different occult traditions, mostly hailing from Western Europe." Katt leaned backwards against a brick wall, sizing Hartley up. He shook his head. "Right, yeah, the joke. So according to those occult traditions, red heads are more in tune with this pervading natural power that our Order tries to harness. The hair color's sort of like a brand, to mark the chosen vessels of transformation. So I dyed my hair as a nod to our philosophy."

"Oh. That's…"

"I swear, it's not as creepy as it sounds."

"I was going to say interesting." Hartley said, taking effort to keep his tone polite. He really needed to keep Katt talking about this, but he didn't think he was skilled enough for it. 'I wish Nightwing were here…no, I don't need his help, I can do this'. "So, um, what Western European tradition is that?" Academic interest seemed to be working well enough.

"Anglo-Celtic, only they interpreted the mark as corruption, or an indication of a demonic pact. If you look through old manuscripts you can see words for red headed thrown around as insults, like in the same line they'll say someone had brown hair and then call them 'the rufus'. But yeah, if you have the right seals in place, the idea is that you could summon a demon and…you think I'm nuts, don't you?"

"Katt, I've met a demon before."

"You…you have?" His eyes widened, decidedly interested.

Piper nodded. "I've got a half a black taper candle in a shoe box in my closet back home. I don't plan on using it or anything, but if I did I'd be summoned to an audience with a demon king."

"So you really have been marked." Katt whispered.

Hartley shrugged. "I don't know about that, but I'd certainly be interested in hearing more about your society, at any rate. They might be able to tell me what to do to get rid of the candle…right?"

Katt stubbed out his cigarette and took Hartley's hand in his, looking at him with poorly concealed excitement. "I'm sure we can work something out. The main building's nearby. Wanna come with and poke around the archives with me?"

"Sounds like heaven."

* * *

Katt led Piper into an aging Victorian mansion that looked incredibly out of place nestled amongst the office buildings and high rise apartments of the city. The house had been painted black, with mauve and violet stained glass windows depicting unfamiliar symbols.

"Wow. Um, interesting décor." Hartley said with a nod.

Katt smirked. "I know it looks kind of pretentious, but we're playing with some heavy magics here. Black and purple are protective colors, and the symbols all serve purposes."

"Oh."

They stopped outside of an elaborately carved ebony door. Katt took off his boots and donned a black velvet robe lined in red satin. He took another one out of a nearby closet and handed it to Piper. "Lose the shoes Beautiful. You'll feel the energy better that way."

Reluctantly, Hartley toed his shoes off and laid them next to Katt's boots. The robe smelled strongly of some kind of incense.

Katt came up behind him and kissed the back of his neck, sending shivers down his spine, but not at all in a good way. His skin was crawling-whatever energies Katt had talked about were impossible to miss. The air felt charged.

Katt slipped off Hartley's elastic and ran his fingers through the coppery strands of hair.

'Probably should have snuck away and called Nightwing before I came here' Piper thought.

No, no. He could handle this. He didn't need to go crawling to the younger hero; he'd already embarrassed himself enough as is. It's not like he'd never worked on a murder case before. _He could handle this_.

Besides, if anything went wrong he was still wearing the tracer.

As if in answer to that thought, Katt kissed along Hartley's neck, nipped his earlobe and whispered against his skin. "By the way lovely, you're going to need to take off that bug you're wearing."

"B-bug?"

Katt's hands had been roaming along his torso. His nimble fingers extracted the little metal bat signal with the tiny red light on it. "You run with super heroes, huh? Hm…I thought you might be _that_ Piper."

"You've heard of me?" Hartley asked, since there was no point in denying it. Fuckbunnies.

Katt laughed throatily while he crushed the tracking device. "Course I have. You're the twin cities socialist hero. The champion for actual justice and true equality, right?"

"I've been working on learning how to effect change from within the system." Hartley responded carefully.

"Too bad. We don't think that'll work. You've pointed it out before, that the system is too far gone to be fixed. It's too uneven. All the power's with the wealthy minority and the faceless impovershed masses are getting easier and easier for the complacent middle class to ignore."

Hartley nodded at the familiar words. "Yes, I remember giving those speeches."

"I liked the one about the origins of the United States government. That the idea of the founding fathers having set up a constitutional government to protect the rights of all is a myth created and perpetuated by later generations."

"The founders were interested only in protecting the tax rights of the wealthy white elite." Hartley finished.

Katt grinned. "All's not lost, I see. Those heroes you work with, they keep the status quo going. Your friend the Flash is an interesting one…he doesn't really support you much, does he? Even when you play by the rules of this broken democratic system?"

"What are you getting at?" Hartley asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

"Come on, you've noticed that this 'democracy' is being abused so that the majority can oppress the minority!"

He was starting to get an idea of what Katt was alluding to. "Wait, you think because Flash wouldn't join me in speaking out against DOMA that he betrayed me?"

"You said it, not me. But...in a sense he did. I mean, he's supposed to be your friend, right? Shouldn't he have used his influence to help you?" Katt asked. "It's not just an abstract issue for you, this is about being able to be viewed as a truly equal human being. And if he's your best friend he should want that for you."

"Separate isn't equal." Hartley repeated quietly, wringing the fabric of the cloak sleeves. He shook his head. "No, we, we talked about that. I don't want to kick that up again."

"So you're good enough to call up to watch after his interests, but he's not required to care about yours? That's not much of a friendship."

"I thought we were here to peruse a library." Dammit. Katt's comments had hit all the right buttons, stirring up an argument he'd let drop months ago (and Piper was now realizing that he and Wally had never resolved it).

Katt sighed. "We can still do that, if you'd like, but I'd thought...well I'd hoped I could show you more than books."

"Like what?"

Katt glanced at the heavy wooden door they were still standing outside of. He looked back towards Hartley, considering. "The tracking bug has me rattled. What exactly is it you're expecting?"

"I...I'm visiting Bludhaven to work a case with Nightwing. It's not related to meeting you." _Smooth_. Well, James Jesse had always said that the best lies were made of bullshit rolled around truth, but clearly Piper still needed some practice at it.

"Uh huh. What's the case?"

"Not at liberty to say."

"How do I know I can trust you?" Katt demanded.

"You don't." Hartley said, because he didn't have a better answer. Katt smirked. "I'm sorry, is there something your secret society is doing that super heroes _should _be concerned with?"

Katt laughed. "Maybe. I'm sure you've gathered by now that I don't see their actions as heroic."

A couple robed figures approached them from a staircase, halting their steps and eyeing Piper warily. They both had dyed red hair, just like Katt. "Who's your friend?" One of them asked.

"I'm hoping he's a new recruit."

"Is he coming to the ceremony?" The other one asked.

Katt took a moment answering. "Yes...I think he should. C'mon Piper, follow me." Katt opened the door, took Hartley's hand and led him into a long chamber, poorly lit by large white candles. Robed men with dyed red hair were standing along the edges of the room. It was one of the most unsettling places Piper had ever been, even keeping in mind his past as a gimmicked crook.

"To really change things we need to think big, which means starting fresh." Katt's tone of voice had changed. It wasn't the light, teasing tone he'd been using so far, but a commanding sneer. "To do so, we need more power. The governments of this world and their protectors won't stand for the radical shift required to bring about a world grounded in a true meritocracy, so we need to be able to force it past them."

"Uh huh..." Hartley had a feeling he wasn't going to like whatever their method of securing power turned out to be. There was an altar at the end of the room with a black sheet thrown over it, and Hartley guessed the answer was under the sheet.

"We've been collecting the energy in this building with the help of some unattended lambs, but we still have more to hunt before we've met our goal." Katt continued. "Do you want to help us change the world? To really save it and end the cycle of stagnation?"

"Of course." The words were past his lips before he'd really taken in what Katt had said. There was a certain dullness of thought in his head too...wait, there was something familiar.

Hartley started, but Katt had walked past him towards the altar and so didn't see. 'He's doing what I do...' Piper realized, and now that he recognized it...Katt was attempting to influence Hartley's mind, using his voice instead of instruments. Now that he was aware of it Hartley was able to resist the gentle pull, but he feigned the fuzziness of response that went with answering hypnotic commands.

The robed figures pressed in around him, urging him forward. Someone pressed an object into his hand. Then Katt pulled back the sheet.

Wally was laying on the altar, unconscious, bound and gagged. Katt's smile looked downright demonic.

"We normally prefer to use homosexual lambs for our ceremonies. The sexual energy from unbalanced, single-gendered couplings has more force to it than heterosexual energy, but I'm sure this speed force I've read about will have its own kick to it. And he _is _a red head."

Hartley looked down. There was a dagger in his hand.

"The Flash, fierce advocate of keeping things the way they are, might be the single greatest obstacle between us and Utopia. You know I speak the truth Piper. Help your friend truly contribute to saving the world. Slit his throat."

"I..."

A/N sorry for the long delay, got distracted by another fic *cough, read Pavement Cracks, cough, cough* anywho, i also wanted to apologize for how heavy and, well, made-of-plot this chapter was, but it was necessary for the climax. next update will hopefully balance better.

thanks to everyone still reading :)


	8. Chapter 8

Hartley's fingers tightened convulsively around the dagger. The members of the Thorny Dawn pushed him towards the altar, one excited young man going as far as to grab his wrist and raise the dagger into the air.

Then Wally's eyes snapped open.

He vibrated through his bindings, slipping partway into the altar before he got his feet on the ground. Wally grabbed Piper around the waist and pulled him to the end of the chamber as the altar and cords exploded, sending cult members shrieking in different directions, some falling to their knees and pleading to imagined demons for aid.

"Dude, you were really gonna do it, weren't you!?" Wally yelled.

"If I was going to stab you, I would have done it when you assumed being gay made me a target for AIDS!" Hartley yelled back. He was still holding the dagger, he realized, and quickly chucked it.

"Well it _does _kinda make your chances higher-"

"_We are not talking about this now_." Hartley snapped. The cult members that weren't injured were moving towards them, armed with ceremonial swords and daggers. "But we do need to talk later."

"I don't like hearing that from you anymore than I like hearing it from Linda." Wally groaned. "I'm gonna take away their pointies. Y'wanna call Nightwing and let him know we found the murderers?"

Hartley took out his cell, hunched down and dialed Nightwing's number while Wally disarmed and sucker punched a goodly number of the cultists, who thankfully didn't seem to include combat training in their activities. "Come on, pick up, pick up. Aargh, there's got to be a better way to contact these people." Hartley hissed.

Then one of the men shoved a large pillar candle over and ignited a heavy velvet drape. "Oh…that is so not good. You're an asshole, you know that?" Wally raced out of the house, blowing up the ebony door in his haste, and returned with a fire extinguisher. Hartley was pressed up against the wall with his palms flat on either side, a deer in headlights look on his face with large chunks of the exploded door sticking out of his robe, pinning him there.

"Nightwing didn't pick up, and will you please stop blowing things up?!"

"These idiots didn't have a fire extinguisher nearby-stop lighting the curtains you suicidal friggin' morons!" Wally yelled at another Thorny Dawn member, who'd followed his cohort's lead. One of the other cult members had broken a large stained glass window with a bench and some of them were fleeing while Wally put out the fires.

Hartley tugged on the wooden stakes that had him pinned to the wall, and then ducked to avoid a dagger blow. He punched his would-be assailant in the stomach and the jaw, and then gave up on getting the shards of wood out of the robe and just took the robe off. While he was doing so, Katt whacked him over the back of the head with a massive candelabra and he fell to the ground.

Meanwhile, Wally was aiming the fire extinguisher at a cult member who was holding a candle threateningly to the only untorched drape. "So help me god, if you light that thing I will hit you so hard you'll wake up next week."

The man trembled fearfully, looked from the drape to Wally's irate face and then chucked the candle at him. Wally ducked out of the way, knocked the guy out, and then put out the small fire that had started from the candle rolling onto a dropped robe.

The chamber was now full of unconscious young men or those groaning and clutching at their heads where they'd been struck by the butt of the fire extinguisher. Wally's eyes darted around, looking for his friend. "Piper…? Oh shit." He made a quick search of the house but couldn't find Hartley. "Double shit."

* * *

"What do you mean you lost Piper?!" Dick yelled.

"What it sounds like." Wally returned. He winced, pressing an icepack to his forehead. "By the by, I metabolized the shit the guy at the bar slipped into my drink and all, but I've still got a killer headache, so could you use your indoor voice?"

"Piper could be dying-he could be dead!!"

"Indoor voice _please_?" Wally tried again. "Look, I did everything I could on my end. I rounded up all the culties, interrogated them and made a sweep of their base-nothing. Now it's your turn, mister great detective who turns off his cellphone while his friends are under attack by a crazy cult."

"I was spying!"

"You could have put it on vibrate!"

"It still makes noise when it vibrates! Why didn't you call Oracle?"

"How the hell am I supposed to do that? You aren't exactly free with her number. And Piper damn well didn't have it. Might I add, didn't you used to like, _run_ a super hero team? What the hell man?"

Dick let out an angry sigh and collapsed onto his couch with his head in his hands. "I know, I know…I just thought we were still getting information. I honestly didn't think everything would go down so quickly."

"Uh huh."

"And I was a little distracted." Dick admitted.

"Well, berate yourself later. My buddy's stuck with a psycho-killer right now. And even though he's totally gonna chew me out and kick my ass when we save him, we hafta get him back." Wally sighed. "Linda's gonna be pissed if she finds out about this. I'll be on the couch for like a month. If I'm even allowed to stay on _our_ couch."

Dick slipped his mask back on and walked over to the window, getting ready to leave from the looks of it. "Show me the house you were talking about. There must be clues to tell us where the missing cult members went."

"Kay."

* * *

Hartley groaned softly, nauseous, with a throbbing pain in his head. He opened his eyes and blinked a few times, adjusting to near pitch-darkness poorly lit by flickering taper candles.

Katt was sitting on the floor in the middle of the room, eyes closed, meditating from the looks of it. Other than a small company of spiders, they were alone.

Hartley sat up slowly, and the shackles around his wrists clanked but Katt didn't open his eyes. He looked down and examined the handcuffs. He'd been cuffed more times than he wished to count, but never with anything like these: it was either a very good replica or an antique iron handcuff set. "Did you get these at a Ren fair?" Hartley asked, sluggish.

Katt chuckled. "While we don't have a mythic ancient past, I do like the theatricality that goes with a good setting." He slowly opened his eyes, which were reflecting an eerie golden hue in the candlelight.

"I don't know what you're expecting to accomplish." Piper clanked the shackles together again. "Wally seemed like he had your accomplices well in hand. You may as well turn yourself in."

"I didn't really need those slobs for the Summoning. They made good distractions for the inevitability of a visit by the self-righteous heroes though." Katt returned. "No, I shouldn't have a problem finishing a final sacrifice to call forth the demonic power I need."

"Am I to be your last sacrifice then?" Hartley asked.

Katt shrugged. "I'd rather not, but if necessity dictates it be so-"

"Why not?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Katt laughed at Hartley's horrified expression. His skin was positively crawling. "Okay, so I'm an extremist radical and we have different approaches to essentially the same goals. But I'm sure you could learn to love me back if you gave it a try."

"You kill people. Like, _a lot_ of people."

"Only two by my own hand, and it's not like I did so out of some psychotic thrill. I'll stop as soon as my plan's accomplished. Then it's paradise for all." Katt said, waving his hand dismissively. The hand gesture was accompanied by a sweep of his influencing ability, but Hartley shook off the psychic-tendrils. Oh if only he had a pipe on him, he would so show this damned upstart what kind of hypnotist he was messing with.

"Uh huh. Well flattered, but spoken for." Which was a lie. He wasn't really spoken for, and he wasn't all that flattered.

Katt frowned. "That brunette you were with at the bars? Nathan, was it?"

Piper chewed his lip. "Yeah." He answered, because if he got out of this alive, he was starting to realize just how much he wanted to pursue that. Maybe it was the concussion, but the past promiscuity didn't seem as important.

"Well then it's a good thing one of the classic uses of necromancy is to bend potential lovers to your will. Granted, the seals are described for use on chaste young maidens, but I'm sure that's just a case of how they were historically used and not the only way they could be used." Katt leered. "You'll see, you'll love me. Physically, anyway, and that's enough for me."

"You're disgusting."

"Stop it, you're making me hot." Katt laughed again at Piper's obvious disgust.

Katt crawled forward on his hands and knees, backing Hartley into a corner. "Come on beautiful, you should be on my side. We can remake the world, better than it's ever been. No more homelessness, no more ignoring the victims of indifferent capitalism, and no more families expelling their sons for sexuality they can't control."

"You really think you can use force to make people change for the better?" Hartley whispered. "I tried that, it doesn't work."

"Neither does bending over backwards."

Hartley thought about all the progress he'd achieved with Wally and his parents since he'd stopped robbing banks. "You'd be surprised what appeals to decency can accomplish."

"If you're really _that _into the bending over, we can start anytime."

Hartley spit on him. Katt wiped it off the side of his face, still smiling. He kissed Hartley's cheek, equally enjoying the way he flinched from the touch. "Well, I'd better get busy. I've got some grimoires to comb through and some astrological charts to inspect. Plus I'm pretty sure your friends the heroes are going to be looking for you. I'd best get a good greeting ready for them."

Katt sauntered from the small, windowless cell, a heavy lock falling into place after him.

'Crud.' Hartley thought to himself.

As soon as Katt left the room, his head cleared somewhat and he realized he'd partially fallen under the mental influence. If he hadn't been so focused on resisting the urge to join Katt as his consort, he may have noticed that he was a trained fighter and none of the cult members had demonstrated the least bit of fighting ability while battling Wally in their church. Handcuffs or no, he probably could have taken the slender young intellectual.

'Double crud.'


	9. Chapter 9

**A Few Nights Ago**

Piper never had been one for obnoxious vocalism during sex. In his opinion, people who screamed like that were trying to distract their partners from some obvious failing in the bedroom. Accordingly, rather than yelling his partner's name loud enough for neighbors to hear as he came, he uttered it in a quiet exhalation, much to his surprise. Huh. He hadn't even been aware of connecting those dots.

Maybe Nightwing hadn't noticed. He made no indication either way while they cleaned up, or when they simply lay together on the bed getting their breath back. It had been a pretty spectacular end to a four month dry spell…of course the man _was_ an acrobat.

Oh hell. He wasn't supposed to know that, was he? Well…it was possible to guess it from Richard's build and fighting style…no, Nightwing's…fuck. Even if he hadn't heard, Hartley was still going to blow it.

"So when did you figure it out?"

"Huh?" Hartley propped himself up and turned to face Nightwing for what would likely be very awkward pillow talk. As it was, since he'd admitted to himself that he knew exactly who the younger man really was, he'd also been trying to ignore who Batman must have been…because _that_ possibility just hurt his head too damn much.

"Piper, you said my name…granted my friends don't call me Richard, but still." Well at least he didn't seem upset. Best test the waters though.

"You're not mad?"

"I've been walking around without my mask for three days and we're both trust fund kids. I know you're not an idiot…" He closed the distance between them for a snuggle and a quick kiss, "So of course I expected you to figure it out eventually. I'm glad, actually. Now I get to be myself without having betrayed anyone's trust."

He returned Nightwing's smile, and relaxed into the other's man's embrace. "You were introduced as Richard at the couple of 'trust fund kid' gatherings I met you at. What do your friends call you then?"

"Dick."

".._really_?"

"For the record, I've heard every joke in existence regarding my name."

"Okay." Hartley couldn't suppress a small giggle. "I suppose I don't have any right to tease anyone about names anyway."

"No, not really."

"So…this is okay? Me, knowing who you are?"

"I said I trusted you. I do. Dunno why, we still don't know each other yet, but I'm not bad at reading people." Dick started combing his fingers through Hartley's hair, and he silently rejoiced at being a redhead. All the years of horrible sunburns were definitely a fair trade-off for falling into this particular sex-god's kink. "Look, Hartley, sometimes I move kind of fast for people, but…I don't want this to be just sex. I really like you, the more I get to know you. And I want to keep getting to know you."

Hartley leaned up on his elbows so he could look at Dick, a pleased smile on his face. "In this line of work, I understand the necessity of moving fast. And I want to keep getting to know you too."

"…can we make that _know _the Biblical sense too?"

Hartley laughed, hiding his face in Dick's shoulder as his own shoulders shook with his giggles. Dick quirked an eyebrow. "No one ever gets that pick-up line."

"Do you ever use it on people as well read as you are?"

"No, but…" His eyes crinkled with his smile. "It wasn't just a joke you know."

Now it was Hartley's turn for raised eyebrows. "I'm just getting my breath back from round one!"

"Well you're dating a younger man now. You're obviously going to need to work on your stamina."

"Who the hell are you calling old?"

"So correct me."

* * *

**PRESENT**

"Just so you know, I've already looked the place over for Piper, and I didn't find anything nice and conspicuous like, say, a day planner." Wally grumbled, while Dick poked around in the seemingly abandoned Thorny Dawn headquarters.

"Uh huh. So you saw the trap door then, right?" Dick asked.

"The…"

"Thought not." Dick had pushed back a singed carpet, revealing a small square door with a circular metal handle.

"Ah. So…we just jumping right down there?" Wally asked. Dick was already sitting on the edge of the ledge, about to push himself off into the basement. Wally sighed, and followed after his friend.

They landed in a dark and dusty room that reeked of mold. It was relatively small, definitely not as large as the foundation of the building. "Looks like more of a passageway…" Dick mumbled. He started kicking at the floor, feeling it out. "Floorboards instead of stone or packed dirt…"

"And that's significant, I take it?" Wally scowled. "Is detecting always this slow?"

"Usually it's slower. Found something." Dick motioned to a rectangle of boards that didn't match the others. A good chunk of them had been hacked through to make a human sized hole in the center. "I'm guessing that hole leads to the tunnels."

"Kay, I definitely don't like the sound of tunnels."

"There used to be a Kirkbride hospital in this neighborhood, but it was razed and turned into condos."

"Uh huh…" Wally waited out the part of Dick's explanation that would actually explain the tunnels.

Dick rolled his eyes. "Kirkbrides are mental hospitals from the Progressive era. They used networks of tunnels to connect the different buildings of the hospitals so that workers and patients could get around in inclement weather. Do you need a full lecture or are you ready to head down?"

"…is it haunted?"

"Really Wally?"

"Come on, you've met ghosts! Don't tell me you haven't!"

Dick shrugged. "I'd say there's an outside chance. C'mon, let's get moving." He dropped down into the tunnel. Wally followed after, eyes widening at the new surroundings. The tunnel was narrow and gloomy, with a low ceiling and abundant cobwebs, dust and vermin. Long thick pipes stuck out at random from the ceilings and walls, with chain link fencing blocking off some of the side tunnels.

"This is the creepiest place I've ever been."

"Yep." Dick had cracked a glow stick, and the wavering blue light didn't do much to help with the atmosphere. "Shall we?"

"Yep-yep."

* * *

Meanwhile, Hartley was at work rescuing himself. He'd gotten the antiqued shackles off, thankful he'd been tinkering with one of his sound guns that morning and had absently stashed a tool in his pocket. He extinguished the candles and waited behind the doorway for Katt's return, planning to use the heavy shackles as bludgeons.

He waited, tense, until the bolt slammed back and the heavy door was dragged open. Hartley blindly swung the shackles at the head of the figure who'd entered.

The man darted out of the way with almost inhuman grace, and Piper landed flat on the stone floor. He was hauled to his feet and slammed against the wall in the lit hallway.

"Piper?" Nightwing released his hold, flipped Hartley around and hugged him. "Are you okay?"

"So far." He answered, a bit dazed. "The psycho killer's name is Katt, and he's got a weird fixation with me. His plan is to accrue demonic power, use human sacrifices to summon a monster and remake the world into a socialist paradise. Killing the Justice League was heavily implied."

"Ah. Well we'd best put a stop to that."

"Right."

Nightwing started walking towards a doorway, stopped suddenly, turned and pulled Hartley into a passionate kiss. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

Nightwing smirked. "We'll talk about it later. We need to kick necromancer ass first."

"Oh good, you found him. Wait, necrowhatsit?" Wally was quite suddenly standing a few feet away from them. "Are those the creepy sorcerer guys?"

"Yep. And apparently this one's rapey for Piper." Nightwing added. Wally shifted right from a heightened state of icky to protective, and darted over to stand next to Piper.

"Well obviously _that's_ not going to happen. D'ya want me to zip you someplace safe?"

"Do I look like I've suddenly turned into a useless bystander?" Piper snapped. "I'm fine. Let's stop this creep and get out of here."

"Is there any particular reason you're all pissed off at me, because, y'know, I think getting you away from Katt is legitimate." Wally said defensively.

"I'm with Wally. You're not even _armed _Piper." Nightwing said.

Hartley picked up the shackles. "There, I've got bludgeons, now can we go? I've been working on this case all week! I'm not stopping now. Besides, I could just as easily provide an edge as be a weakness. We don't know how this is going to go."

Nightwing sighed. "Fine. Any thoughts on where the creep went?"

"He said he was going to prepare a welcome for you guys." Piper remembered. "But he also needed to prepare the summoning, and he needs one more victim. He, um, was reluctant to use me."

"Go figure." Nightwing said dryly while Wally mouthed 'gross'.

"You think he's back on the surface snagging aniother gay redhead?" Wally asked.

"Nah, I can get two birds with one stone." Katt spoke up cheerfully. He was leaning against an archway at the end of the hall wearing an impressive looking ceremonial robe. "I prefer to save time when I can."

"Wally, don't-" Which was as far as Piper got before Wally recklessly charged right at the psychotic magician. The floor between them had been lined with something or other that exploded as soon as Wally made contact with it, kicking up thick clouds of pungent smoke. There were a few moments of mingled terror and hilarity as Wally tried to doge the explosions he was setting off before he slammed into a wall and knocked himself out.

Katt glanced down at Wally and grinned. "There's my disposable redhead."

Nightwing tossed an escrima stick down the hall and watched it kick off another round of explosions. "But Wally ran there, he should have set off all the charges."

"They're not charges, they're seals." Katt said smugly. "They're not going to run out." He walked down the hall way and lifted Wally up while Nightwing and Piper watched helplessly. "Oh, safe passage for those who've been consecrated. Toodles. See you when I remake the world."

"Katt, wait! Don't do this!" Piper yelled. "Can't we talk about this?"

Katt paused, giving Piper an indecent look over. "Mm, I'd love to tickle your ear some more, among other things anyway. But I'm a little busy at the moment. _You_ could always join me though Piper. My consort offer still stands." With that he disappeared through the archway and into a sealed chamber.

"We can find another way in. Or a way around those seals. Or maybe we can take off the seals? Shit! Piper, you don't happen to have an easy answer here, do you?"

"_I _could always…maybe he consecrated me too…"

"Piper, what are you doing?" Nightwing yelped, watching Piper walk out onto the explosive hallway.

Which didn't explode.

Piper scowled. "That smug son of a bitch. He really thinks he's going to convince me to join him. It's okay Nightwing, I can follow him." He started jogging towards the archway.

"Wait! Piper, you can't go in there alone!"

Piper paused and turned around. "We don't have a lot of time here. He's going to kill Wally."

"I know. Um…piggy back?"

Piper frowned. "We're dealing with a psychotic necromancer Dick. He's probably got more than the floor booby trapped, but he granted me safe passage. I…I don't want you to get hurt. Just wait, I've got this."

"Piper, don't! Come on-I don't want to see you get hurt either-_Piper_!"

The door scraped shut behind Hartley as he disappeared into the magician's chamber.


	10. Chapter 10

Piper squinted, peering through the darkness of the chamber for any sign of Wally or Katt. The flickering candles cast an eerie glow over the room. He could hear breathing, and the sound of Katt mumbling strange words, so he knew he was right in assuming this was where the Summoning was going to take place.

Well, this was where Katt _wanted_ the Summoning to take place, but Piper was damned if the psycho was going to kill anyone else on his watch.

"Katt? Can we talk?" Piper's voice shook a little when he addressed the magician.

"I'm on a timeframe here Sweetcheeks. Don't want the planets to shift too much on me." Katt called. Piper cautiously edged towards the back of the chamber, fearful of more booby traps.

"Is there anyway I can talk you out of killing my best friend?" Piper pressed.

Katt sneered. "You're still calling him that, huh? No, I'm pretty set on letting Bel loose with a little kick of speed force. I'm hopeful he'll be able to tap into whatever powers West has. Then maybe we can get the chaotic phase done quickly and have the perfect world order set up right away." Katt lit a candelabra on the altar he was using, illuminating both Wally's prone form and his own sadistic looking face. "I know you didn't change your mind about joining me. You just want to stop me."

"Well…killing a close friend of mine is a bad way to try to court me."

"I think it'll be good for you in the long run though." Katt glanced disdainfully at Wally. "The heroes are making you waste your potential. You could be so much more than this." He tilted his head to the side, studying Piper. "You're trying to stall me. That's cute. Is Nightwing sneaking around the side looking for another entrance or something?"

"Probably. I left him outside, but I'm not expecting he'll just stay there staring at the seals."

"Mm. Well here's hoping he'll take care of himself poking his head where he shouldn't." Katt's grin was particularly fierce. "If your plan is to keep me talking long enough for Flash to wake up, that's not going to work either." Katt stroked a hand down Wally's neck and touched a talisman he'd presumably placed on his chest. "This'll keep him bound in place for the ceremony. I'm actually hoping to catch him awake. I want to see the fear in his eyes when I bleed him."

"You're sick."

"Yes, yes, you've been saying much the same thing since I brought you down here. I'd been hoping you'd be a more creative conversationalist. Frankly darling, you were better at the bar. Why don't we talk about politics or how poisoned society's becoming again? I liked that better."

"I…I, um…" He could faintly hear Wally's breathing changing as he regained consciousness. Wally was shifting a little, but slightly enough for Katt not to notice. Shit, he was running out of time. Piper moved a little closer to the altar, and Katt defensively pressed his dagger against Wally's throat. Piper put his hands up. "I actually wouldn't mind going back to the things we were discussing at the bar. Before all this psycho cult bullshit started up I was really starting to like you."

"You…you were? I thought you said you were spoken for." Katt looked strangely hopeful, which was just odd. He should have been prioritizing the Summoning well over making Piper his consort. Then again, the psycho had let him into the room…

"Why are you so obsessed with me? Do you know me?" Piper asked. "From something else, I mean."

Katt's eyes shone with some kind of reminiscence. "Yes, I do know you. And as much as I'd love to tell you all about my feelings for you and how they came to be-"

"Katt, no, please!"

Piper dove forward and got his hand on Katt's, but it was too late. He'd cleanly slashed Wally's throat. Piper pulled Katt's arm back, staring in disbelief at the blood on the dagger's blade.

"No, no!"

Katt smiled wickedly and licked the dagger clean. Piper punched him in the face, knocking him away from the altar. He threw the talisman off of Wally's chest and cupped his face in his hands. "Wally, please, open your eyes. Hang on, we can get you out of here. Just hang on."

Wally's eyes fluttered open. He looked freaked out to an extent that would have been comical, except for the situation. "O-o-ow!"

"Ow? You're talking? Your throat was just cut."

"Yeah, and my speed healed it back up again. God _damn_ that stings!" Wally sat up on the altar and rubbed at his neck (which wasn't quite as bloody as it should have been, now that Piper thought about it).

"No! I'm not finished yet!" Katt yelled. Wally zipped over and punched him again, this time knocking him out.

"Yeah, you totally are. So _done _with you tonight." He turned around and smiled at Hartley. "Aw, you were worried about me."

"Course I was. Way to run into a wall, by the way." Piper folded his arms over his chest, a defensive smirk on his face.

"Yeah, says the guy who attracted the crazy necromancer stalker in the first place. I heard some of that. Do you know who this guy is?" He nudged Katt with his foot.

"I haven't placed him yet. Dunno. Um, Wally?"

"What?"

"The blood, um, _your_ blood that dropped onto the altar…it's bubbling."

"It's…oh, come on! I wanna go home!" Wally whined.

Then the room erupted in a blinding flash of red light and pungent black smoke. When things settled a bit Hartley and Wally were looking at a regal humanoid figure in its prime with crimson colored hair and skin. His eyes were glowing and he had long curved fangs and massive wings.

"Hi." Wally said, because he couldn't think of anything else. Piper fell over edging away from the demon. Wally sped over to stand protectively over him and help him to his feet.

"Hello." The demon glanced around the room, looking dignified but disoriented. "I am Belial. Are you the mortals who summoned me?"

"Um, no, um, I mean kinda, but not on purpose."

The demon rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Was I yanked from my rest into this cesspool of a realm for no real reason?"

"He's the one who did it." Wally pointed at Katt. "And he was a real prick about it too. Look!" He motioned to his cut throat. "Stings like a bitch."

"Having your ether-self wrung through dimensions isn't terribly pleasant either." Belial glanced at Katt. "So…who is to be my master?"

Piper and Wally glanced at each other. "Um…you can just go home if you want." Wally said. Belial glared at him.

"It's just, well Katt wanted to enslave you and force you to destroy world order so he could remake society, and we would…um, rather he not." Piper put in.

"Yeah, he was gonna kill all our friends." Wally said.

"Uh huh." Belial rolled his eyes. "Unbelievable. Why you mortals always seem to think we give half a rat's ass about your world…although I suppose it's better than looking for treasure or raping maidens. Or tutoring. I hate the mortals who make me teach them the dark arts. They're not that tricky you know."

"Sorry." Wally blurted unthinkingly, responding to Belial's long suffering manner. "Do you want us to ask you to do something?"

"Well it would be nice. Make me feel like this day had some sense of purpose." Belial sat down on the altar and crossed his goat legs. Hartley and Wally both took another step back. They hadn't noticed the goat legs, too distracted by the rest of the demon.

"Okay, uh, so what do you do?" Wally asked.

"I can tell you the future, teach you secret knowledge, find you a hidden sum of money, help you win the heart of a comely maiden, make it snow, play you some nice music-come on, doesn't any of that sound good?" He asked, exasperated.

"Uh, future, I guess." Wally said.

Belial nodded. He closed his eyes, smirked, and after a few minutes opened them again. "Not bad, as far as you meatbags go. Normally I see the most dull things when people make me do this. But you're going to be involved in cosmic level crises, during which you'll serve admirably and be a beacon to your people."

"Yeah, yeah, I've been doing that since I was a teenager. Got anything else?" Wally asked.

Belial sneered. "You're to sire two children, one of which will be a great hero."

Wally's face fell. "Kids? Me, raise kids?"

Belial turned to Hartley. "Oh, um, I don't need to hear anything."

"I already looked." Belial said. "Your future is far less glorious than your friend's. I see a lot of pain, but quiet dignity and persevering for justice even when the world has forgotten you."

"Oh." Piper frowned. "That doesn't sound that great, actually."

"No, it's not, but you're too noble a person to have it go any other way. Unless…well, there is an unnecessary insistence on relying on yourself. If you were to share your path with another, some of the pain could be avoided."

"So I should open up?" Piper asked.

Belial nodded. "Or don't. It won't trouble me either way. So, are you satisfied masters? May I return to my realm?"

"You didn't have to stay this long." Wally pointed out.

Belial sighed. "No respect for ritual anymore. Good luck meatbags." He disappeared with more light and smoke.

Wally waved the smoke away and turned to look at Piper. "So…that was interesting."

"Mm. I most definitely would rather have listened to demonic music. Were you and Linda thinking of having kids?"

"Not in the least. I don't think she even likes kids." Wally said with a laugh. "What about you? That sounded pretty intense, and cryptic. Did you know what the guy was talking about?"

Piper smirked. "I have an idea…let's get this idiot to jail and go find Dick."

"Sounds good."


	11. Chapter 11

Wally hefted Katt over his shoulder while Piper made his way to the door. He started to open it but turned to Wally as something occurred to him. "The seals are still going to be on the floor. How the hell are we getting out of here?"

"Um…how the hell did you get in here?" Wally asked. "And where's Nightwing anyway? He's totally not pulling his weight, especially considering this is _his_ case."

"Katt consecrated me so I could enter the chamber safely. I left Dick in the hall so he wouldn't get hurt." Piper explained.

"Oh."

"Why are you smiling like that?"

"Like what? I'm not smiling like anything other than a, y'know, 'happy my friends are happy' smile."

"Uh huh." Piper nudged the door fully closed again and gave Wally a look. "So what's your stake in this?"

"Piper, I am absolutely insulted! Just what are you insinuating?"

"You continue to be an absolutely abhorrent liar. Is that why you ditched having a secret identity the first chance you got?"

"One of many reasons, yeah."

Piper sighed. "If you don't tell me, I'll just ask Linda."

"Alright, fine. I got fifty bucks riding on you and Dick hitting it off."

Piper gaped at him. "You made a _bet_ about me sleeping with Dick?"

"No, not just sleeping with him. I bet that you guys would click. Um, I think the conditions were more long term than a night. That's why I hung around after I screwed things up, so I wouldn't have to tell Linda I, uh, screwed things up." Wally rubbed the back of his neck, looking sheepish. "But for real, I totally am concerned about you being happy, and Dick's like one of the best people I know, so I think you should go for it-"

"You bet Linda fifty dollars that I would hook up with your friend? And she took the bet? That's just…really insulting. Is that why I was set up with her coworker too? You guys were playing a game?"

Wally frowned. "Dude, it's not like that! I mean yeah, we did make it a friendly competition, but at first we were only talking about helping you. I swear."

"You know if you need fifty dollars you can ask me. I am rich. Don't you and Linda have the same finances?"

"Happily married finances kinda suck. There are so many really stupid DVDs I want to buy. And I know they're stupid, and that they're bad movies, but I want them anyway! And I don't even _own_ a current video game system anymore Piper! It's driving me crazy!"

"There's an unconscious necromancer on your shoulder. Your life's not enough of a video game as is?" Piper pointed out, not feeling the least bit sympathetic.

"…no. Um, I'm sorry. Didn't mean to trivialize your personal life." And he did look it, at least. Piper sighed.

"Apology accepted."

"And, um, don't take it out on Dick. He does like you. So if me and Linda's bet blows this, both of you are gonna be hurt and I'm gonna feel like the worst friend ever."

Piper chewed on his lower lip thoughtfully. "You're sure? Um, about him liking me?"

Wally laughed. "Dude, yeah! Come on, he's not even being subtle. Not that Dick's subtle when it comes to hitting on people, but I mean really. He even told you he really liked you."

"Well yes, but-"

"But nothing! He likes you."

"But I'm an old nerd and he's a brilliant, gorgeous super hero. Skankiness isn't enough of a character flaw to balance that out."

Wally scowled. "You're not that old, you're _both_ the biggest freaking nerds I've ever met and Piper, you're not ugly. I'm not an expert on guy pretty or anything, but I can tell the difference between uggo, normal and hot. Plus Linda even said so."

Piper opened his mouth to protest some more, but Wally cut him off. "Trust me, you're good enough! You're one of the only people I'd ever say this to: date my best friend. I trust you to treat him good. I _want_ you to date him. And not just for the fifty bucks." Though that was clearly still part of the equation.

"W-we should probably get the necromancer to jail now." Piper said softly, surprisingly touched by Wally's faith in him.

"Yeah. So, uh the seals."

"Right. Nightwing thought we might be able to piggy back."

"I suppose it's worth a shot."

"Here, let me drag this door open before we figure out logistics for transporting the three of us." He started scraping the door open again.

"W-whoa!"

"Oof!"

Nightwing had been perched precariously on the other side of the door, having dragged himself along the hallway along the brick walls, digging his fingers and toes into the cracks. He'd been carrying his boots in his mouth. When the door opened he lost balance and fell on Piper. The two were sprawled across the stone floor, Nightwing leaning over him.

"Could you have taken any longer opening that damn thing?"

"Didn't know you were waiting." Piper answered dazedly, a slight flush on his face.

Dick smiled at him. "I was trying to pry it open myself, but then I heard you two talking and I figured you'd taken Katt out already. God you guys are chatty."

"You wanna, uh, get off of his lap?" Wally asked, averting his eyes. Dick smirked.

"Aw, is someone feeling icky?"

"Shaddup."

Dick scooted off of Piper's lap and helped him to his feet. Piper glanced at the hallway curiously and then eyed Dick, contemplating the feat of scaling along the brick walls without touching the floor. "You really dragged yourself here hugging the wall?"

"Yep."

"Cool. Can you do it again?" Wally asked. Dick glared at him.

"It wasn't _pleasant_." He walked around the chamber, examining the room and muttering to himself about where he thought they were below the city. "Could be…no, there's not a connec-but Katt couldn't have built this himself just for the Summoning so there's got to be a-ah. Here we go." He hopped on top of the altar and pulled at the heavy velvet drapes covering the wall behind it, revealing another hallway. Then he went back towards the door, sat down and started pulling his boots back on.

"This one's probably trapped too." Wally pointed out. Dick tossed a piece of rubble down the hall, not setting off a single explosion.

"I'm for risking it. No guarantee Hartley can actually get us safely through the other hallway anyway, right?"

"I suppose." Scowling, Wally hefted the necromancer more securely onto his shoulder and followed after his friends. He 'accidentally' whacked Katt's head on the archway as they passed.

* * *

The three crime fighters returned to Dick's loft some hours later, tired, achy, cranky and covered with a film of dust, sweat and cobwebs. The trek through the other hallway had by no means been pleasant, but they'd arrived above ground safe and unmolested by dark magic. After dumping Katt off with the proper authorities and tipping off some magic-using heroes that they had another evil magician to keep an eye out for, they'd agreed to turn in.

"Rock paper scissors for first shower?" Piper suggested.

"You're the guest, go ahead." Dick waved him towards the bathroom.

"You're sure?"

"Go ahead Hartley."

"Okay, thanks."

Dick walked over to his kitchen counter and took out a roll of paper towels. He tore a few off and tossed the roll to Wally, then gently patted some of the grime off his face.

"Thanks, but I'm just gonna head back to Keystone and use my own shower." Wally set the paper towels down on the counter and turned towards the door. He was stopped by Dick's hand on the back of his neck. "Uh…" As soon as the sound of running water reached their ears he found himself pinned against a wall. "Oof!"

"No, I really think you should stay and talk." Dick's voice was calm, but his hands were also restricting Wally's access to air.

"Did I do…urgh, something?"

"I'm pretty sure I heard you say you bet your wife fifty dollars I'd sleep with your friend."

"You and Piper are so taking this the wrong way, I-_aie_! Can you please let go of my neck?"

Dick dropped him and he landed on the floor. Wally looked up at him confusedly, rubbing his neck and throat. "You couldn't have heard our conversation that well through the door. Can't you give me the benefit of the doubt that I wasn't trying to sabotage you guys?"

"You were manipulating my personal life. I get enough of that from Bruce. _And you know how I feel about that_."

"Okay, okay, it was a little insensitive to make a bet, but my motives were pure, I promise!" Wally insisted. "Linda was just talking about how she wanted to set Piper up with a friend of hers, and I thought it sounded like a bad idea so she challenged me to find someone better, and when I stopped to think about it, it seemed like you and Piper would get along. And you do, don't you?"

"…yes, but that's not the point."

"How is that not the point? It was my point."

Dick glared at him a moment longer, then sighed and went back to wiping away grime with the paper towels. "I suppose I did get set up with a hot red head through your inept meddling, so you're forgiven."

"Don't you mean thank you?"

"Don't push it."

"Wow, that was almost a Batman-glare there." Wally said with a strained laugh. The glare didn't waver.

"Comparing me to my mentor right now? Pushing it."

"Okay, well, I should head back to Keystone and grab that shower. But it was cool, breaking up a cult conspiracy with you guys. See you around." And with that outburst of nervous chatter Wally was gone.

Shaking his head, Dick went to find clean clothes for him and his guest.

* * *

"We told the demon about Katt's plan, which he wasn't terribly enthused about. He was really quite cranky, actually, so Wally asked him if he wanted us to make him do something."

"Uh huh." Dick rubbed a towel over his wet hair, pacing behind the couch while Piper filled him in on what he'd missed. He was sitting curled up on the couch wrapped in a blanket.

"So the demon told us our futures. Wally's slated to have two kids."

"Really? Oh man, I can't even picture him as a dad." Dick shook his head and squinted, as though trying to actually see his mental image. "Too weird."

"He's still kind of a kid himself, so he'll obviously be the 'fun' parent, and Linda will balance him as the disciplinarian." Hartley guessed. "Anyway, I'm excited. I can't wait to corrupt their children with socialist propaganda and general leftism."

"So what'd the demon say about you?" Dick asked. "Or did he only tell Wally's future?" He tossed the towel aside and flopped onto the couch next to Piper.

"Oh, um, he told mine too. Apparently I'm going to be forgotten and alone, but I was warned that my own tendencies toward isolation have a lot to do with it. I guess I can change things by being more friendly." He looked at Dick out of the corner of his eye.

"Any particular plans for how you're going to approach that?" Dick asked, hands slipping under Hartley's blanket.

"Tentative plans." He put his hands over Dick's, pulled them away from their progress up his thighs and twined their fingers. "Can we talk?"

"Of course." Dick frowned, concerned. "Are you okay? If you're freaked out from your stalker, that's fine, really. I can back off and let you have some time to get over that."

"Katt did rattle me, actually, but I wanted to talk…about us. Um…is there an 'us' or am I being too presumptuous?" Hartley asked, waiting for the confirmation that the fantasies he'd been harboring for the past few hours really were unfounded and delusional.

"I'd like there to be an 'us'." Dick squeezed his hands. "You do too, don't you?"

"Yes, of course. I wasn't hit that hard on the head tonight." Hartley laughed, eyeing the gorgeous younger man incredulously. "I was just thinking…it might not be a terribly practical idea. There's an age difference, and it'll be long distance-"

Dick cut him off with a kiss. He ran his hands through Piper's damp hair and tenderly stroked the side of his face. "Quit worrying so much. We'll make it work. How old are you anyway?"

"Twenty nine."

"Well, I'm _almost_ twenty four. It's not that big an age difference."

Which is exactly what Hartley had said when he'd tried dating a significantly older man when he was just about Dick's age. His boyfriend had wanted to settle down, get a house together, maybe have a commitment ceremony in lieu of a marriage, while Piper had been running around in tights and getting arrested.

"What about the long distance?" Hartley pressed. "I can get here for visits, but I _live_ in Keystone. I'm not moving."

"I wouldn't expect you to." Dick frowned, thinking about it. "I'll try to sneak away when I can, but I usually am pretty busy. How often do you think you can come for visits? What's your work schedule like?"

"Um, there isn't really a schedule to fighting crime with Wally."

"No, I mean your work-do you not have a job?" Dick asked.

"Technically…kind of…not really, no. I have a nominal position with my father's company, but I don't have to put in regular office hours except during the holidays. I oversee Rathaway Publishing House's charitable contributions." Hartley explained. "What?"

"Why are you worried about the distance when you can essentially come see me whenever the two of us are free?"

Piper frowned. "Well when you say it like that of course it doesn't sound like a legitimate concern."

Dick smiled and stood up. "I think we've settled enough details for tonight. Are you going to sleep on the couch, or…?"

"Once again, the head blow wasn't _that_ hard."


	12. Chapter 12

Dick leaned against his bedroom doorway, watching his new lover sleep. Hartley looked absolutely gorgeous in the dawn light. His pale skin carried a faint orange glow, as did his red gold hair, and with the way he'd flung his limbs over the bedding and the slight part of his lips…

Dick got back into bed and started kissing along Piper's shoulder until he sleepily reached for him for a proper kiss. "Mmm…morning," Dick greeted. Piper let out a slow, contented breath.

"Hi."

"So do you _really_ need eight hours of sleep?"

"Nn…c'n I get…s-six?" Piper asked fuzzily. Dick kissed and sucked along his neck.

"You can go back to sleep if you really want to…" The statement was punctuated by further groping and moaning. Dick kept kissing and stroking Piper, holding him close with one arm so he could smell his hair. They were on sleep molestation bout number three; Hartley was beginning to fear he'd bested a necromancer to be killed by an incubus.

"You're so fucking beautiful," Dick whispered after they'd finished. Hartley drifted back to sleep curled up against him.

* * *

"Excuse me?"

"I said I'd like my fifty bucks now. Um…please?" Wally's tone faltered part way through. He abruptly decided to ditch his 'I told you so' dance. On the plus side Linda wasn't sporting the 'smirk of doom'. She was regarding him with one of her skeptical reporter expressions. He calmed down and fixed her with a smile that was hopefully pleasing.

She sighed. "The last time I spoke to Hartley I was in no way convinced you were winning the bet. What happened?"

"Piper had a series of epiphanies while we were working the case." He held out his hand expectantly. Linda quirked an eyebrow and he slid the offending hand into his jeans pocket.

"You meddled, didn't you?"

"Was I not supposed to? Come on Linda, when I left Bludhaven they were, uh-" Well Dick had been ready to kill him, but Piper had been intent on pursuing things. "…doing well?"

She put a hand to her forehead and started massaging her temples. "I'll get your fifty when I go to the bank this morning. I suppose we should invite them over for dinner?"

"Why?"

"Because that's what you do with couple friends." Linda started peeking through the kitchen cabinets. "Did Piper go full vegan yet or can I still cook for him without going to a specialty store? What?"

"Linda, Dick is not someone I want over as a _couple friend_. He's a friend-friend. The regular sort."

She smirked, something very close to the 'smirk of doom'. "Oh? And is there any reason you don't like being around him when he's with his significant other of the moment? Would it have anything to do with his personal life being a swirling vortex of drama?"

Wally scowled. "You could look a little less smug about it. Look, for all we know they could be a great match for each other."

"Piper's looking to settle down. That break up with James really hit him hard," Linda pointed out. "Personal feelings aside, I don't think Dick is what he needs right now."

"Uh huh. But Piper disagrees, so I still get the fifty bucks…?"

"Of course. Assuming you can deal with inviting them over for dinner."

"Crap."

* * *

"You know, you said I wouldn't have to worry about crazy cults," Hartley joked.

"I said the chances weren't good," Dick corrected. He watched with distaste as Hartley gathered up the notebooks, items of clothing and other vestiges of his stay and dropped them into his duffle bag.

"The chances seemed pretty good to me."

"Of course they seem good now that it actually happened." Dick sat down and glared at the duffle bag on the coffee table in front of him. "You know, you don't have to leave right now just because the case wrapped, right?"

"Somehow I got the impression you don't mind having me around," Piper assured him with a smirk. "I think I figured that out during the third or fourth time you jumped me in the course of one night of sleep."

"You're exaggerating."

"Probably. I'm a little tired since I didn't get much sleep."

"You got at least twice as much sleep as I'm used to."

"Huh."

"What?" Dick asked, curious.

"Just wondering how it is you manage to look so hot on four-ish hours of sleep a night. I suppose functional sleep deprivation could be some kind of mundane meta power. You should have bags under your eyes at the very least."

"Hemorrhoid cream," Dick said without thinking. Piper's expression turned to concern.

"Honey, please, _please_ just ditch your day job and live off of your guardian's wealth so you can sleep! Or you can live off of my family fortune if you'd prefer. You'd make a lovely kept man."

Dick tossed the duffle bag to him. "Yeah, that'd go over great during super hero gossip. 'Oh, that guy's a scientist, he invented his super tech,' 'That one's an alien, but he keeps a respectable day job', 'There's Nightwing. What's his secret identity again?' 'He's a gold digger.' Yeah, no."

Piper smirked. "You know, amongst villains shacking up with someone wealthy would be a source of envy."

"Okay. I'll ditch the pursuit of truth and justice and get back to you. So, um…when do you think you can get back here again for a visit?"

Hartley shrugged. "Probably reasonably soon. I've got a few things to take care of for the shelters I volunteer at and a lingering family obligation. I can try to get back this weekend, if that's okay."

"Of course it's okay," Dick said with a smile. He walked Piper to the door but paused, clearly wanting to say something else. Piper waited patiently. Dick let out a small sigh before continuing. "Um…we're taking completely different perspectives on this relationship, aren't we?"

Piper chewed his lip, set the duffle bag down and then sat back down on the sofa. "We should probably talk before I leave. What do you mean?"

"Do you…not want to see me or something? I mean I know I can be a bit smothering. I've only had one girlfriend who didn't complain about it and that's because she was even more clingy than me…but at least at the very beginning of a relationship it's normal to be excited about seeing each other and upset about leaving for an undefined extended absence, right?"

Hartley nodded. "But it's also going to be a reality of this arrangement. Dick, I told you the other night, there's the long distance to factor in, and we probably are looking for different things out of this. Plus we still don't know each other very well. To be perfectly honest, I'm trying not to attach myself too strongly because I don't think this is going to work."

"So what the hell are we doing?" Dick asked, obviously hurt. "Damn…so you're a bit of a pessimist, huh?"

"I'm almost thirty. I'm ready to ditch the cycles of bullshit that's gone with dating so far."

"So settling down?"

"Yeah."

"Ah…" Dick frowned. "We are looking for different things then. I don't really want to settle down like that yet. But…it seems stupid not to at least give this a try. Couldn't we, like, take things slowly and see where it goes?"

"I don't really-"

"C'mon, you're not thirty yet, and even still, it's not that much older than me unless you want to be prematurely middle aged about it."

"Considering the lives we both lead it's entirely possible I'm past my middle age. What's the life expectancy for costumed personalities again?" Piper asked.

"Cute." Dick rolled his eyes.

"We probably won't get to see each other very often-"

"Which will make the time we do spend together even better. C'mon…you like me…" Dick sing-songed.

"I do."

Dick grinned.

"But I don't want to be fuck friends."

"Ah. So if we don't date, nothing?" Dick's smile fell.

"Good, you're seeing what I'm getting at. Yes, Dick, I don't want to do casual. I can try to get here as often as I can, but I'd like it if you at least tried to get to Keystone some of the time too."

"I'm pretty busy with the super hero life plus day job-" Dick winced, noticing the doubtful expression on Hartley's face, "but I guess I can set aside what free time I have specifically for visits. Hartley…I can do my best."

"Okay. Yeah, then, ah…" Piper was starting to look awkward again. "I suppose I would be pretty stupid to insist on, um…"

Dick pulled him close for a long kiss, tangling his fingers in his hair. He broke the kiss and traced along Hartley's cheeks with his thumbs. "So we're dating then?"

"But taking it slowly."

"You do actually like me, right?"

"Of course. It's just…you're far too good to be true."

Dick laughed. "Thanks, I think. Frankly I've been wondering why Wally didn't introduce us sooner."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Dick twined their fingers together. "I for one am very excited about this." He brought their hands to his lips for a kiss. "So try to calm down on the pessimism, okay?"

"I'll work on it."

* * *

"Hey guys. I can't stay long, but I wanted to pop in." Dick shrugged out of his coat and wrapped Alfred in a half hug as the butler went to take it.

"Very good to see you master Dick."

"Why can't you stay?" Tim asked, frowning. "I thought you said you were gonna be clear all weekend."

"Oh, uh, yeah, but I'm heading down to Keystone."

"Again?" Tim asked. "Didn't you _just _finish a team up with the Flash?"

Bruce's eyebrow quirked, so Dick shot Tim a 'shut-it' look. It was instinctual, but still a mistake. Now the World's Greatest Detective was intrigued.

He resolved to do his best to distract Bruce with his own problems during his brief 'family obligation' visit. "So hey Bruce. Long time no see. How are things with you and Catwoman?"

* * *

The intended trip to Keystone was foiled by a hostage crisis in Bludhaven, but when Dick called to tell Piper about it he didn't sound particularly upset. He offered to hop a train and meet Dick with some movies and a pizza.

"Sure. You're sure you don't mind?"

"No, it's fine. I'll bring that documentary I was telling you about. I'll be up in a few hours."

"Cool."

And lo and behold, he actually did show up with movies interesting enough that Dick actually wanted to watch them. "Wow." Dick set the DVD box on the coffee table and let out a low whistle. "You know, I don't think I've ever watched a documentary on the evils of corporate empire for a movie date night before."

"You said you wanted to see it," Piper said, looking a touch unsure of himself. "When I told you about it before-"

"Yeah, I did, but…" He looked at the pictures on the box. "You know, there's a good chance one of us is in this thing. Between Wayne Enterprises and Rathaway Publishing House…"

"I'm in the background of a clip from a fundraiser of some sort. I look murderous because I'm twelve and we went to that instead of celebrating my birthday. You're not in it, but your guardian is. Several times over, actually."

"Alright. How do they paint Bruce as a bad guy? I gotta know."

Piper stared at him, not sure if Dick was joking or not. "Wait…do you think Wayne Enterprises has never done anything unconscionable?"

"Piper, it's run by _Batman_. I know you've figured that out by now-"

"To start," Piper held up a hand, clearly getting his leftist groove on, "As a former crook I have to point out that _Batman_ running an organization is not a comforting thought. He violates civil rights and due process more than the rest of the Justice League combined-"

"Plus you're scared of him," Dick put in.

"Terrified," Piper corrected. "Secondly, Wayne Enterprises is the largest States based corporate machine I know of. They do business with countless other businesses in a variety of nations on a massive scale. It's simply impossible for one person, even Batman, to monitor all that activity. They're no Wal-Mart but WE have amassed a good amount of human rights violations. Plus they dally with manufacturing for the military."

"So?"

"War profiteer much?"

Dick laughed. "I can't wait to bring you over for dinner. Seriously, Green Arrow's never had this kind of poignancy in his arguments. I don't know what Bruce would do, but I'm guessing it'll be memorable."

Piper choked on the pizza slice he'd bit into. Dick patted his back. "You really think," he croaked, "I'd say any of that _to Batman_?"

Dick almost fell off the couch laughing. "Come on, he's not that bad!"

"You've always been on the right side of the grapple," Piper pointed out defensively. Dick was still giggling at him. Piper frowned, obviously annoyed.

"Sorry, sorry. I'll put in the movie."

* * *

"You know, they could probably do a series of these just on LexCorp," Dick said.

"Yep. Even ignoring the super villainy," Piper agreed. "My mother got my sister's prom dress from one of his subsidiaries, but my actions as the Pied Piper are the public embarrassment." He snorted.

"Hey, I didn't know Luthor owned any of those department stores. I also didn't know how many places Bruce technically owns."

"Told you this thing was good."

They were cuddled together on Dick's couch, Dick lying with his head on Piper's lap while he stroked his hair. At first Piper had been disappointed, mistaking Dick's silence for boredom and ultimately sleep. Halfway through the documentary though, Dick had chimed in with thoughtful comments, proving his silence to be the result of rapt attention.

"They're doing a really good job making Oliver Queen look like an idiot," Dick said with a laugh. "I'm gonna hafta show this to Roy. Oh, wait!" He grabbed the remote and paused the movie. "This is the scene you were talking about, right? That's you, right?"

"Urgh, yes. Damn detective eyes," Piper grumbled.

"Aw!" Dick sat up, laughing. "Look at the freckles!"

"It was an awkward phase! Everyone has an awkward phase. Well you probably didn't, you inhumanly beautiful bastard."

"I think you look cute. That was a bad hair cut though."

"Do you know how long ago this was?"

"Bet _I _was adorable then."

Piper scowled, sure it was true. "You know, I'd thought I'd get at least one perk out of my parents wanting nothing to do with my love life, and that being never having to endure viewings of my childhood pictures."

"You suggested the documentary and alerted me to your presence in said documentary," Dick reminded him. He gave Piper a quick peck, afraid he'd overstepped the bounds of gentle teasing. "I'm sure I can find an awkward phase picture, if it'll make you feel better. I did used to wear fairy booties and fish scale panties you know."

"Yeah, but you rocked those man panties," Piper said with a smile.

"No one can possibly rock bright green fish scale panties. I don't know why Bruce let me dive after sketchy men in that get up."

"The villain community was actually wondering about that. You garnered way more attention than Kid Flash or any of the others."

"Yeah, I'm familiar with the digs of super villains," Dick said, rolling his eyes. "I got a very awkward part two to the birds and bees talk from Bruce after some pedophile type comments from some bad guys when I was eleven. It was a little traumatizing, y'know, for Bruce."

"For real?"

"'Bruce, what did that guy mean when he said he wanted to tea bag around my cherry lips?'"

"Oh God!"

"Yeah. And he answered me. At _eleven_. Things to do differently if I ever end up with a sidekick, but the top of the list is to not have a sidekick, like ever."

"Aw, I think you'd be a cute minion-mentor," Piper teased. "I agree with you though. Wally's the closest thing to a sidekick I ever want to have."

"I'm going to tell him you said that."

"Go ahead! The things I've had to teach that boy…"

"Such as?" Dick asked, intrigued.

"Kay. It's not okay to assume all gay people have AIDS, or that all homeless people got that way by being lazy. Some bad guys are less evil than others, there are degrees to that sort of thing. Linda always needs presents for her birthday, Christmas and Valentine's Day, no matter what she says. Don't keep condoms in your wallet, don't compare your girlfriend to your exes, when she asks for an honest opinion the answer is never anything close to 'yeah, you do look a little chunky today, but I like a little junk in the trunk-'"

"Holy shit, he didn't-"

"I had to diagram why he'd been thrown out."

Dick buried his face in his hands, shoulders shaking from laughter. "I have to know-who'd he compare?"

"Connie to Raven."

"What? How?"

"Christ, this one was ages ago. Um…Connie went off about how awful Raven was, and Wally stuck up for her by pretty much saying Connie was a shallow ditz, at least Raven was smart or something…"

"Did he at least say Connie was prettier?"

"He thought he did, but he really said something like 'Raven has a beauty you'll never understand, since you're just conventionally pretty.'"

"Oh Wally, no…" Dick was almost choking on his mirth.

"I wound up with both of them seeking me out for advice and to talk about what an asshole the other was. I wanted to throw a party when they finally noticed what a bad match they were and split up. Except then I had Wally asking me if he was better looking than Chunk for a month."

"Poor baby." Dick shut off the TV, since they were clearly done with the movie. "Don't worry, I promise I'll never call you conventionally pretty."

"Gee, thanks."

"What? You're fucking hot and there's nothing conventional about it."


	13. Chapter 13

"Dick, I am so, so sorry-"

"What is it?" Dick sighed, sitting up in bed and cradling the phone to his ear. It was past sunrise and the birds were up. He was probably never getting back to sleep now. Wally's timing was good like that. "What'd you tell Piper this time?"

"Not Piper, Bruce!"

"Bruce?" That woke Dick up. "What'd you tell Bruce?" The movie night banter really had just been banter. He wasn't even a little ready to introduce Bruce to Hartley.

Said overtired boyfriend's only response to Dick's hissed exclamations was to pull a pillow over his head and roll over.

"…I kinda told him that you're dating Hartley-"

"Why would you tell him?" Dick demanded. He stumbled out of bed, pulled on PJ pants and left the bedroom so he wouldn't bother Piper. "Hello? Wally? Ah!" Dick started, as suddenly Wally was standing in the living room.

"I'm really sorry Dick."

"I get that. But really, Bruce? I told Tim already so he could help me cover it up."

Wally hung his head. "I didn't even know we were talking about it, he just did his detective misdirection stuff-it was like magic, I swear!"

"Yeah, he's good like that." Dick pulled at his hair and groaned.

"He didn't seem upset. Does that help?"

"No offense Wally, but you suck at reading Bruce."

"Fair enough." Wally chewed on his lip. "You think he really cares that much? He doesn't seem to meddle with your personal life really, just the professional-no?"

Dick scowled. "Musta been nice, having a mentor who was open with you. I moved into Titans Tower the night I realized I was talking about Korey in terms Bruce used. He was trying to get me back to pursuing Babs, and it was working."

"How?"

"Well timed seemingly disinterested queries that kicked up some doubts. He's very good with subtle manipulation you know."

Wally frowned. "You're sure Bruce won't approve of Piper though?"

"He's not crazy about me dating guys. My first boyfriend was Roy. You remember how that went. Plus there's the criminal history and the fanatical leftism. Shit…I've gotta warn Hartley, but he actually is afraid of Bruce. I don't want to scare him away either."

"Sorry dude. But I gotta take off. Um, next League thing I'll try to put in another good word for Piper if I can, okay?"

"Yeah. Thanks for the head's up Wally."

* * *

When Hartley woke from his own volition he was alone in the room (go figure, he wasn't being molested). He yawned, stretched, borrowed a pair of PJ pants and ventured out into the loft in search of his boyfriend.

He was groggily rubbing at his eyes, entertaining fantasies about staying in Bludhaven another day despite a prior engagement in Keystone, when he almost walked into Batman.

Hartley jumped back like he'd been struck, suddenly wide awake. The Dark Knight trained a glare on Hartley (even with the white out lenses, Piper knew the man was _glaring_) and even though it had been years since he'd attempted a theft, every crime he'd ever gotten away with returned to Hartley with intense clarity. The musty smell of Iron Heights that you could actually feel coating your throat came back…he thought he was going to faint.

"Kay, I found the flash drive O dropped off-" Dick stopped short, noticing the tension in his living room. He at least was fully dressed, emerging from the kitchen with a sandwich and a folder of intel. "Take it down a notch, will you?" Was Dick actually being petulant to _Batman_?

Wait…ex-boy wonder, plus he'd never been a Rogue and so had nothing to fear. Though bizarre to see, it made sense.

Hartley was a little curious how this meeting was going to play out. He hadn't been officially introduced, but it was fairly obvious that if Nightwing was Dick Grayson, Batman had to be Bruce Wayne (a realization he'd grappled with; the Rathaways knew Bruce Wayne). He opted not to use first names unless someone else broke the ice first.

Batman was still glaring, and somehow Hartley couldn't picture the vapid playboy he'd met under that cowl. "I'm, er, just g-gonna, um…go. Berightback." He bolted back into the bedroom to at least put a shirt on, inadvertently giving Batman a view of fingernail streaks down his back.

"What the hell Bruce?" Dick's voice was low enough that it wouldn't have been audible if Hartley didn't have robot ears, which he did so he heard everything.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Batman responded. Hartley shivered. The voice wasn't as gravelly as the real Batman voice, nor quite the playboy voice, but something in between. It made sense…the playboy must have been an act, but the intonation was still all Batman.

'Oh God, what have I gotten myself into?' Hartley thought fearfully. He was sleeping with Batman's surrogate son. Somehow that hadn't sunk in before.

"I'm talking about you scaring the piss out of my boyfriend. Knock it off," Dick snapped. Hartley unfroze and hastily started rooting about their discarded clothes for his t-shirt.

"I didn't say anything."

"You know what you did."

"His reaction demonstrates superstition and cowardice. You're sleeping with a criminal."

"Don't you dare," Dick growled. "He's been on our side for years. Just ask Wally at the next meeting-"

"The Rogues have a high rate of recidivism. None of them have remained rehabilitated-"

"Except Piper!"

"It's telling enough that you didn't inform me you were seeing him."

"You don't understand relationships and you don't actually care who I sleep with. Why would I mention a new guy to you when you didn't even notice when Korey and I split up, or any of the drama I went through with Roy?"

There was a heavy silence. Hartley cautiously reemerged fully clothed with his hair brushed and pulled back. He edged carefully around the room until he was standing closer to Dick than Batman. Batman started out glaring again, but at a look from Dick he glanced down at the manila folder he'd been handed.

"Morning Piper." Dick greeted. He leaned in for a quick and awkward kiss (dear God, Batman was _right there!_).

"Hi." His voice sounded a little funny, a little too high pitched.

"This is helpful," Batman said, indicating the folder. "I'll leave you two to finish your…meeting."

"Yeah, bye." Dick rolled his eyes, but his voice was warm. Batman left via grapple out an open window. Dick, ever the cuddle slut, nuzzled up to Piper and gave him a real kiss. "Sorry," He muttered. "I know he's scary as hell if you don't know him well."

Piper wasn't quite sure how to respond. Dick frowned, concern marring his pretty face. "I-it's okay," Hartley assured him. "I just…God, I felt like I was still a criminal when he looked at me, and-and I've worked really hard to put all that behind me. What I can get away from, an-anyway."

Dick squeezed him. "I think you've done spectacularly. Hartley, hey, look at me. I looked into your work with the shelters, and that program you and your ex set up for counseling kids that got used as henches, and then everything you do with Wally…God, and the change you brought about in him too, that was no small miracle."

"You looked at my programs?"

"Yeah, sorry. Paranoid detective training. I internet stalked you a little," Dick said, clearly embarrassed.

"That's alright." He was actually pleased that Dick cared enough to look into him in the first place. "Er, would you say that Batman's opinion of me is very important to you? I, uh, don't think he likes me."

"He doesn't like anyone, don't worry about it," Dick said with a laugh. "I like you."

"I inferred that. I've never been molested so much in six hours of sleep before," Hartley pointed out. Dick laughed again, a pleasant if slightly silly sound. His hands roamed under Hartley's t-shirt. Piper kissed the gorgeous younger man, finally starting to relax after the horrible wake up.

"I have to head back to Keystone today."

"No you don't."

"Yes, I do…I've got shelter work, and a few contacts to meet…"

"Do it later," Dick suggested breathlessly. "Do me instead," He added, unable to resist. Piper grinned. He framed Dick's face with his hands, loving the feel of his soft, perfect skin and thick black hair.

"I really can't. Obviously I'd rather be here with you-"

"Doing me," Dick corrected. He tilted his head to kiss Piper's fingers, slowly taking one into his mouth and sucking on the pad.

Piper could feel the arousal building in the pit of his stomach. He had to be at the train station in a couple hours and had wanted to suggest going out for breakfast, but suddenly he was leaning towards grabbing a bagel on the way.

* * *

That night Piper changed into his costume at the homeless shelter and left right from there to meet his contacts at the old car plant in South Keystone. It was eerily quiet inside, which he noticed before he even approached the doorway. Four heartbeats, three quick and one normal, and three erratic strains of breathing.

Piper gripped his flute, ready for danger before stepping in. His contacts were bound and hanging from a ceiling beam placed in direct sight of the door and lit by the moonlight spilling in from the window.

"Oh God." Piper instinctually grabbed his phone from a pocket and hit the speed dial for Wally. He hesitantly approached the bound men, affirming with his eyes in addition to his hearing that the men were alive.

Then he was lifted into the air, the phone clattering across the factory floor. He found himself on a catwalk with a grapple loosening from his ankles, facing Batman.

"We need to talk," Batman growled.

Piper was at a loss. "I-I'm working!" He spluttered out.

"I got your information. There's a recruitment meeting outside the high school tomorrow night."

"And do you think I'll ever be able to get anything out of my informants again?" Piper yelled. "I don't scare the shit out of people!"

Batman was not impressed. "I don't have time for this. What are your intentions with Nightwing?"

Piper glared back, still running on righteous indignation and adrenaline. "We're dating. It's not your business."

Batman took a slow step forward and Piper shrank back, outraged indignation rapidly dissipating. "_Nightwing_ is my business."

Piper could taste Iron Heights again. His knees were shaking.

"What are your intentions?" Batman repeated.

"I don't-I don't know what you're asking!" Piper's voice was shaking as much as his knees. Batman shoved him against the rails of the catwalk.

"What's your plan, pursuing a real hero? What are you getting at?" Batman demanded. Piper thought he was going to faint.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?"

They both looked to the side and saw Wally standing there with his arms crossed over his chest. He had Piper's cell phone.

Batman pushed away from Piper and pulled his cape around him. Piper whimpered and fell to his knees, trying to steady his breathing. Wally was behind him instantly, stroking his back reassuringly.

"Flash. Did you actually set them up?" Batman snapped. Wally's outrage faltered.

"I, uh…I, well, I mean really, who Nightwing wants to d-date is-"

"His choice," Piper put forth in a small voice. Batman actually growled. He glared at Wally.

"I told you I'd been worrying about him in confidence and a week later you set him up with a reformed villain."

"I, uh-uh-uh-"

"W-we're friends. I did reform, really," Piper said, since Wally seemed to have forgotten how to speak.

"For your sake, you'd better hope that's true!" Batman thundered.

"Batman stop it!" Wally finally yelled. "Piper's a good guy! I trust him with my life and I more than trust him to date my best friend!" Batman spared them another spandex-wetting glare before grappling out an open window. Piper sat down very forcefully as his legs gave out.

"What just happened?" Wally asked.

"Batman screwed up my case, threatened me on behalf of his ex-sidekick, and you defended me. Thank you, by the way."

"I talked back to Batman," Wally said dazedly.

"Can you cut my informants down and apologize for me? My hands are still shaking."

"Sure."

"Wally…is he _really_ Bruce Wayne?" He asked quietly, in case anyone was around to hear. Wally laughed, some of the tension easing.

"Yep. Much easier to see Nightwing in Dick, huh?"

"A bit."

"Oh, uh, while I'm here. Linda wanted me to invite you and Dick to dinner. Are you doing anything Friday night?"


	14. Chapter 14

Dick was sipping a cup of coffee, leaning against a large window with an excellent view of Bludhaven when he noticed a scarlet blur streaking towards his building. He set the coffee on an end table and headed towards his front door. The doorbell rang a few seconds before he got there.

"Hey Dick," Wally greeted pleasantly. Dick stepped aside to let him in, nodding in welcome.

"Hey Wally. What brings you back to Bludhaven so soon?" They didn't normally see a hell of a lot of each other. It was mostly a scheduling thing; Flash was out and about during the day while Nightwing preferred the cover of darkness. The old friends handled the brunt of their communication online.

"I'm just passing through actually. I was on my way home from a League thing and I have orders to deliver you an invite-"

"Orders?" Dick repeated, amused.

Wally mock-glowered at him. "It's in my best interest to comply with my wife's whims. Piper's coming over for dinner on Friday. Linda wants you to come too."

"If she's concerned, you can assure her that we've been out a couple times since we worked the case together, but if Linda genuinely wants me to come over for a couples thing then I'm down for it."

"What makes you-"

"She doesn't like me Wally. I noticed. So did Piper, actually. She doesn't want me dating one of her friends," Dick said sourly. "Which I don't get. I've always been nice to Linda."

"Yeah…she just thinks you're kinda sleazy."

Dick shrugged. "She can think whatever she wants, but since I am seeing Piper, however casually, can you ask her not to badmouth me to him? Please? Apparently he's already getting enough of that from you."

Wally looked a touch uncomfortable. "I just gave him a variation on what I told you already. You know, I'm friends with both of you guys, so if things get complicated…"

"Yeah, but you didn't have to tell him I 'break up messy'."

"Well you do," Wally said defensively.

"Maybe, but couldn't you have waited until we're at least one month in? I mean Jesus, you already told him I was a slut the morning after we slept together the first time. I mean, what are you going to do next? Give him a blow by blow of how I sabotaged all my previous relationships? Remind him every time you see him that if he gets serious with me, Batman's his potential in-law?" Dick snapped. Wally narrowed his eyes at him.

"Are you coming to dinner or not?"

"Yeah, I'll come." He allowed himself a giddy smile. "It'll be nice to see Piper again so soon."

Wally smirked bemusedly. "Things are going good with you two then?" Dick nodded, his giddy smile turning all out idiotic. "Cool. I was worried, you know, since you'd decided to take it slow. Figured that just meant fizzling out."

"Yeah, I was worried too, but he's been back to visit twice now. I haven't been down to see him yet, but it's on the to do list. I wanna keep this going for as long as I can. I don't usually get to date guys as good in bed as Piper is."

"Yeah, I'm done." Wally walked back towards the door, looking a bit grossed out. Dick laughed on the inside. When they'd been teenagers, once he'd figured out that Wally really had nothing against gays but was just uncomfortable with the idea of butt sex, he'd developed a taste for teasing him. And when he'd been dating Roy…Wally had "accidentally" walked in on them so many times, he _really_ should have gotten suspicious at some point.

"No really Wally, I need to thank you again. Piper…really, _really_ knows what he's doing, so-"

"I'll see you on Friday." Wally took off in a burst of red, leaving Dick to giggle to himself.

* * *

"Hey, I'm at the store. Do you guys need me to bring anything?" Dick was on his cell with Wally while flipping through a shelf of CDs. Keeping an eye out for anything that looked obscure was quickly becoming habit. He finally gave up, reassured by the goods in his bag.

"Hey Linda! We good on snacks and stuff? Dick's at the store!" Wally yelled. Dick shifted the phone a little further from his ear until Wally was done talking to his wife. "I guess we're cool."

"Okay then. I should be over in about twenty minutes."

"Alright dude. See you when you get here."

Dick clicked the phone shut, finished scanning the CDs and left the music store, content with the discs Tim and Babs had hooked him up with. Music was a gimmick he could work with, not like archery or computers. The challenging part would be figuring out what Piper already had and what he didn't; he'd mentioned owning over two thousand CDs and records. The man had filled three I-pods, something Dick hadn't even thought possible.

When he got to the West house he was let in by Wally, who looked like a pleasant mix between cheerful and frazzled. "Hey, c'mon in." Wally waved him inside to an empty living room. Dick couldn't stop himself from frowning.

"Is Piper here yet?"

"Huh? Oh yeah. He's being free tech support right now," Wally answered with a smirk. "Best leave him to it. He almost had a heart attack when he saw what Linda did to her laptop. I'm hoping he'll fix the desk top if he gets on enough of a roll."

Dick rolled his eyes. "Can't you guys just suck it up and buy a real antivirus program?"

"Says the guy who gets free aid from Oracle," Wally returned. "So what'd ya bring?"

He opened his bag and pulled out a 25 disc CD case of burns. "I'm hoping it's a present that will go over well. I asked Tim and Babs to hook me up with the most obscure music they could find." Dick tossed Wally the case and he flipped through it, brow wrinkling in concentration as he tried to read some of the names.

"Ivo Papa…what is that?"

"Papazov. Apparently he's a Bulgarian clarinet player. Tim said he's well known in Europe so it's probably not going to be impressive." He shrugged. "At least something in there has to work."

"Piper's got a wall of CDs. I'm sure he'll appreciate the thought though." Wally tossed the CD case back. He flopped onto the couch and let out a sigh. "So we've got three costumes and one costume-spouse attempting to relax together for an evening. What do you think's going to go wrong?"

"It'll have to be big for me to care. I've had one hell of a month. I need this," Dick said, settling down on an arm chair. Wally grinned at him.

"I couldn't have put it better myself."

"Well how was I supposed to know the anti virus had expired?" Linda's voice reached them from a room down the hall. Wally sunk a little lower down the couch in an attempt to hide from view.

"The little pop-ups that screamed 'I'm dying!' every time you turned on your computer were a good indicator," Piper returned cheerfully.

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks for fixing it though. I really appreciate it."

"No problem." A slow smile spread on Piper's face as he entered the room and caught sight of Dick. It was a brief flicker of warmth before he turned to Wally with a scowl. "You had to notice the expired antivirus Wally. I asked you about it-"

"That shit's expensive!" Wally complained. "And you do such a good job fixing it."

"I have offered more than once to buy you guys antivirus. And a new computer. You're using a dinosaur."

"You don't need to buy us a computer," Linda insisted quickly.

"I'd rather buy a computer than fix the same problems in your current one over and over," Piper put in. He crossed the room and sat down on the arm of Dick's chair. He leaned up to give Piper a quick kiss, prompting Wally to turn and face the wall. "Hey, when did you get here?"

"Not that long ago. And hey yourself." Dick, deciding to be an asshole, pulled Piper onto his lap to give him a more proper kiss hello. Piper attempted to pull away, startled, but Dick was pretty skilled at holding people in place. Wally looked like he'd thrown up a little in his mouth, which was just too much fun for words.

Piper kissed him back, but when he pulled away his face was bright red. Feeling a bit of sympathy for his apparently-modest new flame, Dick kept his hands in polite places, but he still didn't let him up. "Look Piper, we set off Wally's icky senses."

"Well it's not hard," Linda laughed. "Watch this. Hey hon, anal beads."

"Guys, come on! It's not like I'm doing it to be mean. None of the rest of you are from Nebraska, okay?" Wally pouted, genuinely defensive from the looks of it.

"Hartley's from Missouri. That's not much better," Linda pointed out.

"Yeah, but he's gay, so obviously he didn't get the icky senses!" Wally shot back.

"It's okay," Piper said, elbowing Dick in the gut as he spoke, which allowed him to finally make his escape. He seated himself back on the arm of the chair, but leaned close enough for casual cuddling range. "Really Wally, you're entitled to your discomfort."

"Seriously?" Dick asked. "Come on! I've been teasing Wally about this since we were in middle school. That makes it practically tradition! Besides, it's _fun_."

"Wally, are you having fun?" Piper asked pointedly.

"Nope. Wow, this is so much better than when he was dating Roy," Wally said, relieved. "I thought I was in for that again."

"I did too," Dick pouted. He leaned over and stroked Piper's leg. "You'll have to make it up to me later."

"Now _that_ sounds like fun," Piper replied with a grin. "Are you going to crash here tonight or do you need to head back to Bludhaven after dinner?"

"Nah, barring Bat emergency I'll probably just hang in Keystone. I mean, assuming anyone present will house me?" He asked, eyes fixed hopefully on Piper. Piper smiled again and leaned in for a quick, polite-for-company kiss.

"I think I can handle that."

"Great." Dick beamed. "By the by, I brought you something." He pulled the CD case out of his bag again and handed it off. "You probably have it all already, but I got some help from my friends so there's an outside chance at least something's new."

Piper sifted through the CDs, an intrigued look on his face. "What's on the Papazov CD?"

"Um…I dunno. I think it's a mix."

"Oh good! I've only got three of his CDs. If your friends were downloading from the internet there are probably a few tracks I don't ha-oh sweet, the new Paper Raincoat! I've been meaning to order that offline, but I keep forgetting."

"That must have been Oracle," Dick guessed. "Never heard of them. What kinda music is it?"

"Singer songwriter stuff. One of the band members, Alex Wong, probably plays as many instruments as I do. It's the coolest thin-Aradhana Silvermoon? I've actually never heard of this one."

"Ho-ly _shit_," Wally gasped, while Linda clapped a hand over her mouth.

"This is a momentous occasion," She said once speech returned. Dick laughed. "No, no, I'm serious."

"Dick, we have this game," Wally started. "We turn on the radio and just flick through stations at random. Piper can name artist, title and album. Invariably. For everything we land on."

"Even the college stations," Linda added. Piper was going red again.

"Yeah, yeah. Well…yeah. Music's my thing."

"Well good," Dick said brightly. "Then maybe you won't find the number of inane facts I can list off about things disturbing."

"Batman made him memorize a Gotham City phonebook when we were fourteen. Hey Dick, 352 Aparo Boulevard," Wally said.

Dick sighed. "555-0539. Bale, Michael."

"Wow." Linda didn't seem quite sure what to make of that.

"Tip of the iceberg as far as his dysfunctions go," Wally started to laugh then caught the look Dick shot him. "Uh, right, lemme go check on dinner."

* * *

Much to everyone's surprise, dinner went smoothly. Out of habit, Wally, Piper and Dick kept checking their phones and various signal devices, occasionally turning on the TV to check the news, but no rampaging super villains pulled them from their meal.

"Huh. So what do normal couples do after they finish eating? I've never gotten this far before," Wally admitted.

Piper shrugged. "I've never spent time with normal people. I have no idea what they do."

"I think this is when we play Pictionary," Linda said. The men all looked at her with various shades of polite distaste (except Wally, who didn't feel the need for politeness).

"Do we _have _to?"

"No, I just think that's what normal couples do. Playstation? Hartley just bought one for Wally the other day." She looked at Piper with more than a little suspicion as she said it, and he felt the need to defend himself.

"Well, considering what a fuss he made about not having a current video game system, I figured the easiest solution was to just buy one for him. This way we don't have to deal with anymore creative but awkward bypasses of happily married finances."

"And I think this is an excellent time to change the subject by playing with my new toy," Wally cut in nervously, distinctly not liking the look on Dick's face. "See you guys in the living room! I'mgonnasetitupbye!"

"Training him's going to be a lifelong process, isn't it?" Linda sighed dramatically.

Piper shrugged. "I've been doing it longer than you have. Keep that in mind."

"I seriously just shuddered. No, Piper, I'm not even kidding." Linda followed the others into the living room where Wally was flicking through the channels on their TV.

"Is this supposed to be on 3, 0, AV, or what?" Wally asked.

"I don't know, it's your toy," Linda said.

"Yeah, but you and Bart have already used it way more than I have."

"Hey wait, go back to that channel," Dick said suddenly.

"Which one?" Wally asked. He went back a couple channels then stopped. "Oh."

It was one of those TV tabloid shows that followed around celebrities, and at the moment a bubbly blond 'reporter' was shoving a microphone in Starefire's face as she was leaving a bar.

"Oh, I haven't seen Korey in awhile. She looks good," Wally said pleasantly.

"It must suck to be that recognizable," Piper added sympathetically.

"You've got a public persona. That doesn't happen to you?" Dick asked, surprised.

Piper shook his head. "Every now and then the Advocate or GLAAD asks me for an interview and I get special treatment at Radio Shack sometimes. That's about it."

"Oh."

"Well she doesn't seem to mind the attention," Linda pointed out.

Dick smirked. "She's also buzzed."

"How can you tell?"

"She's swaying to the left a little bit and that's her tipsy smile. Trust me, she's buzzed."

Wally shook his head. "I guess you would know. But she doesn't look drunk to me."

"I said _buzzed_, not drunk."

The ditzy blond made some bad jokes about crime fighting, which made the two couples at home wince sympathetically, and then the girl started with the inevitable questions about Starfire's love life. "Come on, tell us the truth! What do you think about our boys here on Earth?"

Korey giggled. "They're…pleasant."

"Pleasant, yeah, and…? Don't wanna kiss and tell, huh? Alright, well everyone remembers back when you and Bludhaven's brooding beauty were the sweethearts of the Teen Titans. Are you still seeing Nightwing?"

"Bludhaven's br-" Wally started, but stopped at the look Dick gave him. Piper, however, was suddenly transfixed by the idiotic TV show.

Korey laughed again, and looked at the blond with a coy smile. "We…_see _each other every now and then."

The reporter then started asking Starfire about the nightlife in her area. Dick shook his head.

"I should have just let you skip over that. God, those shows are ridiculous."

"Eh, every now and then I find something to tease one of the millionaire playboy superheroes with," Wally said with a shrug. He started looking for the appropriate channel for the game system again. "Sounds like Korey still thinks you guys are hooking up though."

"Those shows are taped in advance. But yeah, I should probably call her and let her know I'm involved again. Piper, you okay? You look a little pale."

"Huh? Oh, I'm fine," Piper answered, a little too quickly from the looks of it. "I was just spacing out. Um…what game are we playing?"

Neither Linda nor Dick looked like they were buying it, but they also thought it better to refrain from pressing it in a group. Wally, content in a state of obliviousness, started pulling out game cases.

Linda's brow furrowed. "Wally, how many new games have you bought for this system?"

"I think your attempt to help Wally with his happily married finances problem may have backfired," Dick muttered to Piper, while Wally tried to plead his case.


	15. Chapter 15

Linda waited a few days after the couples dinner before giving Piper a call. When he answered the phone, she skipped over pleasantries and went right to, "Coffee and boy-talk?"

"Yes, that sounds good."

"Alright. I'll meet you at the café by your place in an hour."

Piper was already there when Linda got to the café. She waved at him, went and got a latte, and then sat down across from him at a little table. He looked miserable, and this was partly explained when he reached into his bag and pulled out a mess of pictures, plopping them unceremoniously onto the table. Some of them were glossy magazine cut outs, but most of them were printed from the internet.

Linda skimmed through the pictures, frowning. Quite a few of them were from Korey's stint as a model. There were the expected tabloid pictures of her too, and also a surprising amount of pictures of the original Batgirl, considering the Bats were pretty good about avoiding cameras. There were even some fan illustrated pictures of her. Even more surprising, he had some pictures of Arsenal, so Piper had somehow figured out that he was an ex even though Arsenal and Nightwing were closeted.

Piper scowled. "She's six four, her body's literally inhumanly perfect, and as if that weren't enough, her red hair friggin' glows! It's like she was _designed_ for him."

"Physically maybe, but they weren't really that compatible," Linda assured him quickly. "Which is why they broke up. He's not dating her anymore Hartley, he's dating you."

"Yeah, but he still sleeps with her when he's between partners. And the way he said that! God, how long do his relationships last?"

Linda frowned. "Um…well, he did date Starfire for a good long while actually…that's not helping, is it?"

Piper shook his head.

Linda looked back at the pictures. "Well here's something! Dick didn't actually date Flamebird, she's just stalking him."

Piper gaped at her. "He's got a stalker?"

"Um…only the one that I know about. Look, hon, it probably wasn't a very good idea for you to go digging all this up. I mean, I have to admit I'm a little impressed. I think you've got almost all of the exes I'm familiar with represented here-"

"…there are more?" Piper asked in a small voice. He looked through the pictures again. "They're all so glamorous. I mean look at this. How am I supposed to compete with this?" Piper tossed down a picture of a shirtless Arsenal.

"Okay yes, these people all have nice bodies-"

"_Amazing_ bodies," Piper corrected. "I don't even know how you get muscle tone like that." He scowled, jabbing his finger at the Arsenal picture.

"Well the arms are from the archery, but anyway, yes, they've all got good bodies, but, well…Dick feels an intellectual connection with you."

"Oh good. I'll compete with my powers of nerdery."

"I know that was sarcastic, but yes you damn well will. You'll be fine. Hartley, you're already doing fine. He's smitten with you."

Piper sighed. "I guess. This is just…I haven't felt this insecure since high school. I mean, I've only got a small fraction of the exes he does, and none of them look like models." He scowled at a magazine picture of Starfire. "Excuse me, none of my exes actually _were_ models."

"Piper, you're not ugly-"

"Not ugly's not this." He held up a random picture from the pile.

"Will you let me finish?" Linda snapped. "Look, you're actually really cute, you just don't put the work into it. You're too busy running around being a social activist, volunteering for a million different causes, being a super hero and all other kinds of good things that have caught Dick's attention. Seriously, don't let this make you crazy. He picked you. You're doing something right."

Piper took one more look at the pictures. "From what I can tell, he picks people kind of a lot."

She didn't really have anything to say to that.

* * *

When Piper got back to his place he threw the pile of pictures in the trash. It really had been unhealthy to spend that many hours on the computer e-stalking his boyfriend, tech nerd or not. And Linda was right, all it did was make him feel like shit. His relationship was fine, Dick was plenty interested.

Although God only knew why. All those trim and toned young bodies, perfect, gleaming smiles and various shades of abundant (mostly red) hair kept parading through his mind.

He went into the bathroom and stared at his reflection in the mirror. Did he always have so many split ends? Maybe he should start buying fancier shampoo or something…

Piper found some scissors and started trimming off the dead tips of his hair. That's when he noticed some grey hairs that had been hiding with his natural highlights. 'As if I didn't feel old and ugly enough already.' He let the scissors fall into the bathroom sink with a loud clatter and stalked off into the bedroom for his laptop.

SOME TIME LATER

Dick swung into his bedroom via window, stripped out of his costume and headed for the bathroom. When he finished with his shower he got his cell and called Wally.

It rang for quite a while before a dazed sounding Wally answered, with Linda screaming inaudibly in the background. Something about it being four in the morning.

"Whuzzaha? S'the world blowin' up ag'n?"

"Huh? No, the world's fine."

"Then why're you calling me!" Wally yelled.

"Because I haven't heard from Piper in over a week and I think it's your fault," Dick snapped.

"Wait, what? Linda, it's okay, I'm getting up! Hold on a second…" There was some more background noises, giving Dick the impression Wally was stumbling into the hallway. "Okay, what happened? Did you guys break up?"

"No! At least, if we did I wasn't aware of it. I just can't get in touch with him. He's not answering his phone, and every time I catch him online he signs off right away. I've been swamped with the superstitious and cowardly up here, so I haven't been able to come down and check on him. Is this normal or should I be worried?"

"Well I'd be a little worried for his safety, but I just saw him tonight. We hung out for awhile and got pizza."

"Oh. Did he mention anything?"

Wally thought for a minute. "Not really. He just kinda ranted about some asshole politician he hates for a little while, then told me some anecdotes about the homeless shelter-"

"_Me_, Wally. Did he mention me? Like something I might have done to upset him, or wanting to dump me or anything like that?"

"No."

"Look, if you've got an idea here, I could really use the help-"

"I said I don't know, okay? And even if I did, I sure as hell wouldn't step in the middle. If you're having problems with Piper, that's between the two of you. I already told you, I'm not taking sides."

"I'm not asking you to take a side, I just need help figuring him out," Dick ground out, frustrated.

"Uh huh. So you're looking for me to spill dirt on one of my best friends to my other best friend. How is that not awkward?" Wally snapped.

Dick sighed. "Alright, point ceded. Is there anything you can tell me that might help?"

"I dunno. Piper gets pretty lost in his own head sometimes. I'll ask him about it the next time I see him, okay?"

"If it makes you uncomfortable, you really don't have to."

"Cool, cuz I'd really rather not. Wow, I don't even know what I'm saying anymore Dick. It's like four thirty. Can I sleep now?"

"Yeah Wally, go back to sleep. G'night."

* * *

The next afternoon (which was like Piper's morning), Wally ran into his friend's house uninvited. He found Piper spread out on his living room floor with a maze of towering stacks of CDs around him. He had the cap of a sharpie sticking out of his mouth while he scribbled on a jewel case. Based on the scrubby sweats he was wearing, the pencil stuck through his ponytail, and the take out containers littered over various surfaces, Wally guessed that Piper had been leaving his house very infrequently, and that Wally had probably been present every time he'd done it recently.

"Hey dude. Whatcha doing?"

"Refforga-sorry," He removed the sharpie cap. "Reorganizing my CD collection. Hello Wally. What brings you by?"

Wally briefly considered being evasive about his reason for being there, but decided he didn't care for it. "Did you break up with Dick?"

Piper's eyes widened, and he looked back at the CD case he was holding. He mumbled something barely audible before reaching for another jewel case.

"I said, did you break up with Dick? And sorry, I didn't catch your answer. I for one, don't have super hearing."

"…I said not exactly."

"Uh huh. So what's your plan? Leave him hanging for an indeterminate period of time? He's a good guy Piper, he doesn't deserve to be jerked around like this!"

"I know, and I'm sorry. I just…don't even really have an excuse. Every time he's called I've wanted to answer the phone-"

"Then why don't you?" Wally snapped. "If you want to keep seeing him, then keep seeing him."

"It's not that simple."

"Yeah, it kinda is. You guys like each other. Therefore, you're dating. Therefore, you should be talking!" Wally yelled. Piper looked like a wreck, and Wally immediately felt guilty. "Sorry, sorry. I get a little crazy when my friends are hurting. And since both of you guys are like really important to me…" He sat down next to Piper and put his head in his hands. "This sucks."

"Yep. Sorry."

"My fault. I should have thought about this before I introduced you guys. So what'd he do?"

"Huh?"

"What'd he do to make you freeze up every time he calls?" Wally pressed.

"Um…promise you won't laugh."

"Oh no. Is this some weird gay thing I don't want to hear about? Well that's a familiar facial expression at least, the annoyed scowl. Okay fine, I promise I won't laugh. What'd he do?"

Piper avoided eye contact again. "Had a lot of really hot exes."

"Oh. So?"

"What do you mean so? Practically every person he's slept with has been at the peak of physical perfection! Do you know what that does to normal people? I was insecure enough when I thought he was freakishly beautiful. For some reason I didn't put it together that freakishly beautiful people have a tendency to sleep together."

Wally frowned, confused. "Can't you just be happy that you landed someone really hot? That's how I feel every time I see my wife naked. It's always something along the lines of 'Damn, what'd I do right?' I never stop and go over every minute physical imperfection I have. That's just stupid. Besides, you're not ugly. Well, you're kinda grungy at the moment, but a shower, a shave and some clean clothes will fix that right up."

"Wally, my last boyfriend dumped me out of the blue, and the one before that cheated on me. And neither of them were super genius, acrobatic super heroes."

"And Michael was kinda creepy looking."

"He wasn't creepy loo-"

"He had a sketchy beard."

Piper sighed, exasperated. "Whatever. My point is, my other relationships felt more even. I feel like I'm really out of my league here. Do you…do you think I'm good enough to date him?"

Wally leaned over and squeezed Piper's shoulder. "I can't tell you why, lest I have batarangs chucked at my head at every big team up from now through eternity, but don't worry about it. If anything, I'm not sure if Dick's good enough for you."

"…that kind of raises its own issues-"

"Then feel free to forget I said anything. Look, I just wanted to get you to call him back. You're gonna do that, right?" Wally barely waited for Piper to nod. "Okay, cool. I actually need to head out, but you should totally, uh, grab that shower. Bye."

"Bye Wally."


	16. Chapter 16

Piper was pacing along the train platform feeling incredibly sheepish when he finally forced himself to dial Dick's cell number. It went to voicemail, and he tried not to be paranoid as he boarded the train to Bludhaven. He couldn't help but feel like maybe he was embarking on a pointless trip. Maybe he'd scared Dick off with his insecurity and crazy already.

He tried calling back a few times during the train ride, but it kept going to voice mail. By the time he was halfway to Bludhaven the paranoia gave way to a feeling of relief. Alright, so maybe the relationship was already dead. If it was beyond repair then he didn't have to worry so much about what Dick thought about him, he could just relax.

Right, because that made sense. Back to paranoia then.

The train was pulling into the station when Dick finally called him back. "Hello?"

"Hey, you called?" Dick sounded groggy.

"Yeah, sorry. Were you napping?"

"Kinda."

"Kinda?"

"Well I was unconscious. Rough day. So what's going on? I've been trying to get in touch with you like all friggin' week. Are you okay?"

Piper quietly breathed a sigh of relief. He'd been terrified that Wally might have run from his house to Bludhaven and told Dick everything. He sincerely did not want his boyfriend to know he'd had a case of teenage-girl-style self esteem jitters…or at the least, he didn't want the less-than-tactful scarlet speedster to be the one to explain the situation (though Piper did realize he'd probably have to fess up-he couldn't think of any excuses that wouldn't actually be worse than the truth).

"I'm really sorry. I was working through some personal issues. They're, um, mostly resolved now. Hold on for a second." He grabbed his duffle bag from the rack above his head and made his way off the train onto the platform. "I'm actually in the city right now, if you've got some time. And, um, I don't have any immediate pressing engagements to send me back to Keystone for at least a few days…sorry, is that presumptuous?"

"Of course not, that's awesome!"

"It…is?" Piper couldn't help but smile. Dick still thought he was awesome! Yay!

"Of course it is. Did you bring your gear with you? We can patrol together. Oh, and I can finally take you to that twenty four hour bakery I was telling you about. There's something really cool and kinda surreal about grabbing an éclair at four in the morning in a superhero costume."

"I guess I'll have to find out," Piper said. "I'll catch a taxi and be right over."

* * *

"You're right, this is kind of amazing and surreal at the same time," Piper said, before biting into his éclair.

"Yup." Dick was perched on a gargoyle opposite him with a cookie sandwich in one gloved hand and his own éclair in the other. "They're always glad to see me though. Apparently masked vigilantes are stoner deterrents."

"I hadn't thought of that. That must be a problem at a bakery with such weird hours."

"Yep. So…"

Piper groaned. "Curious about the personal issues?"

"Well you said you'd _mostly_ resolved them, which means there's still something bugging you. Anything I can help with?" Dick set his pastries down and eyed Piper with attentive concern.

Piper sighed. "I just…freaked out a little when I, er, that is…I hadn't actually been aware you and Starfire used to date. She's very pretty, that's all."

"Oh. That's it?" He hopped off the gargoyle and sat down next to Piper on his patch of roof. "That's not _it_, is it?"

"Well…you know how you said you e-stalked me a little? I kind of returned the favor and noticed…uh, you have kind of a lot of really attractive exes. I panicked a little. But I'm fine now, really. Just a brief moment of insecurity."

"That lasted a week," Dick pointed out. "Piper, I've been telling you pretty much since we met, I think you're really hot."

"At best I'm normal-person attractive." He subconsciously rubbed at his nose. Dick grabbed his hand and twined their fingers.

"Normal person-attractive? What's that even supposed to mean?"

Now he was starting to get frustrated. "You and all your damn exes and stalkers look like movie stars. But like I said, I'm _fine_-"

"Look, it's obviously not fine if it made you disappear for a week when we've been having amazing dates, great conversations, and fantastic sex. Or am I wrong about something?" Dick asked.

"No, that pretty much sums it up. Okay…" He sighed. "I guess I'm just a little fucked up. I'm not used to things going well for me. Every time I get too happy, the universe seems to do something to set itself back into its proper order."

"I know that feeling too. I guess it's my turn to admit something," Dick said, frowning. "I kind of self-sabotage my relationships." Piper quirked an eyebrow, and Dick continued. "I either date people where a real relationship will never work, either because of something in my day life, my costumed life, or just in general we don't work well together, or if I manage to pick a good partner I find ways to drive them away. But I really, _really_ don't want to do that this time and I'm trying everything in my power to keep from repulsing you."

"Did you come up with that on your own or puzzle it out with a professional?" Piper asked, trying not to be amused considering they were talking about their relationship-demons.

"Uh...promise not to laugh? I had that speech screamed at me while my stuff was being thrown out the door."

Piper closed his eyes and tried real hard not to smile. It didn't take long for a sobering thought to occur to him anyway. "So ignoring you for a week was actually cruel," He assessed, feeling some guilt.

"Hey, we're just learning how crazy we both are. You didn't know." Dick leaned in for a quick, tender kiss. "I'm kind of relieved now that we're talking about it. It sounds like we're almost the same kind of crazy."

"Mm. When I used to see a therapist, she said that my gloomy universal order hypothesis was me being melodramatic, and that it was much more likely that I've established unhealthy patterns, and that I-"

"Create drama when there isn't any because that's the only way you know how to function?" Dick finished with a giddy smile.

Piper nodded. "Exactly!"

"Yeah, I stopped going to my therapist too. That all makes sense if you're leading a relatively normal life…"

"But when you've accidentally time traveled or bumped into people who _can_ manipulate the order of the universe on whims…" Piper filled in.

"Yeah," Dick said with a nod.

"You know, when I was in therapy I was an involuntarily committed super villain, so she knew all about the crazier aspects of my life. What'd you tell yours?"

Dick cringed. "As little as possible. It wasn't my idea to see him to begin with. Thanks to the double life, I was showing up for school with suspicious injuries kind of a lot, and then one day my homeroom teacher caught me hiding a bruise with makeup and that got the state involved for a little while. I had to see Dr. Wertham for most of my senior year of high school, and it sucked. The asshole actually thought Bruce was sexually abusing me!"

"Super villains used to make jokes about that," Piper said. "I don't know if anyone actually believed it or not tho-"

"Used to? Because I remember the jokes, but come to think of it, they don't make them about the other Robins, do they? What happened?"

Piper laughed. "Someone did it when Batman was actually staking out the guy's operation and thus in ear shot."

"Oh…" Dick winced sympathetically. "Bet Bruce wasn't happy about that."

"Yeah, he pretty definitively ended villains saying anything about it. Especially now, with those rumors about that Oracle intel person that he's got, no one wants to say anything in case Batman's actually listening. You're going to repeat every word of that to your friends, aren't you?"

"Mebbe," Dick said with a grin. He started munching on his pastry again, exuding an awful lot of cheerfulness considering what they'd been talking about.

But it _was_ a fun conversation, and it was kind of nice not to have to pretend to be normal. Downplaying aspects of the costumed life and pretending they were no big deal when they were a huge deal had indirectly ended every relationship Piper had had with a civilian since he'd first put his costume on, both as a hero and a villain. It was nice to just acknowledge they were fucked up instead of dancing around it.

"So what comes after the pastry break when you patrol?" Piper asked.

"Pastry-break comes when the night is winding down. So, assuming we don't come across any blatant mischief, then next on the agenda is turning in and making passionate love to a gorgeous redhead."

"Really? That's a nightly thing?" Piper returned.

Dick smirked. "On good nights. And tonight has been a very, _very_ good night."

* * *

Piper sighed in contentment. Dick was curled up against him with his head pillowed on Piper's chest, and for once the beautiful acrobat had fallen asleep first. Piper indulged in the novel experience of studying his boyfriend asleep.

God, the man was beautiful.

And damn was Piper lucky to have this. Maybe his friends had never seen Dick freshly ravaged and gloriously naked in a tangle of sheets before, but they'd witnessed his charming smiles and overall grace; why did everyone have such a hard time getting why Piper felt inadequate in this relationship? At the moment though, inadequacy was far from his mind. Wally's decision to just feel blessed by being with someone amazing was catching.

Dick stirred a bit, but when Piper ran his fingers through the thick black hair he stilled. He was awake now though (Piper caught that shift in his breathing). "You're still up?" Dick asked groggily. "Is everything okay? You're not still upset, are you?"

"Dick, you were only asleep for like ten minutes."

"Oh. Well normally you drop off right away."

"Not every time!" Piper insisted.

Dick laughed. "Feels that way to me." Of course it would, the damn incubus. "You're okay though?"

"Yep." Piper trailed his fingers down the soft skin of his lover's back, while Dick leaned up on his elbows to confirm for himself that Piper's features were untroubled. The contented smile and half lidded gaze must have done the trick, because Dick answered with a giddy smile of his own.

"I was just thinking about how beautiful you are and how lucky I am to be here. Nothing damaged or brooding at all, I promise," Piper said warmly.

Dick kissed him, with an ecstatic smile Piper could feel against his own upturned lips. He wanted this moment to last forever...

"Mm...love you Hartley," Dick murmured.

Oh. Oh shit.


	17. Chapter 17

Linda was already sitting at their usual table with their drinks when Piper got to the café. He glanced significantly at the drinks and then looked at her with polite confusion.

"We're regulars, apparently. They started our drinks as soon as they saw me," Linda explained.

Piper sighed. "I suppose we have had an inordinate amount of stupid-boy talk lately."

"Mm. Do you want to go first or shall I?"

"I went first last time."

"Alright." Linda cleared her throat. "He tried to duck out of my parents' visit."

Piper laughed. "I thought he knew better than that by now."

"Oh he does Hartley. It was going to look like an accident. However, Oracle let me know that the Flash has been offering himself for teamups on the week of their visit, thus increasing his odds of being pulled away from the house to go save the world."

"Well that was good of him or her," Piper said, not knowing enough about Oracle to know what gender pronouns they went by. "I take it Wally rescinded his offer?"

"Oh yes. He's also cooking and doing dishes for the duration of Mom and Dad's stay. Every time I see him he's got a new offer. I've actually already forgiven him, but I figure I'll let him squirm a little longer. It'd be nice if he cleaned out the garage too."

"Just don't take it too far. He really does love you, you know."

"Piper…of course I know that. That wasn't what I-wait, what's your boy trouble then?"

Piper glanced out the window, a sour look on his face. "Dick said he loved me."

"Oh! Oh, but isn't that…it's not good? Wait, why isn't it good?"

"Wait a minute, since when have you been rooting for Dick?" Piper asked, turning away from the window to face her in some surprise. "I thought you didn't even like him."

"Everyone is taking this completely wrong," Linda said huffily. "It's not that I don't like Dick. I think he's a nice guy and a great hero. But from what I've heard he sucks at relationships, and I like you too much to want to see you get hurt again."

"He's been a good boyfriend so far. Better than I've deserved anyway." Piper distractedly took a sip of his latte, wishing away the unease he felt while discussing Dick. There really didn't seem to be much to complain about in the situation, and yet it felt so off that he couldn't just relax and enjoy it. "He really is...wonderful."

"And yet we're regulars at our stupid boy-talk café," Linda pointed out.

Piper frowned. "That's mostly because of me and my self-esteem issues though. Dick's great. In fact, the only thing he's done wrong is saying he loved me, and it's only because he's so…so _young_. And stubbornly insistent that everything's going to work out."

"So he's not paranoid like you?" Linda teased.

"Nope. He's damaged in a totally different way from me. We shouldn't be dating. We're not compatible."

"Oh, and I'm compatible with Wally, am I?" Linda asked. "Face it, I've been here with you because my husband gets on my nerves. All the time. He flakes out, he does stupid things, he can be unbelievably selfish and immature…and yet I wouldn't have him any other way. I may tease him about the little things, but the big things are accounted for. I'll never throw my hands in the air and quit just because he frustrates me from time to time."

"Granted, but this isn't a little thing. He can't love me yet Linda. We're still getting to know each other."

"Right. I felt that way once. Remember when Wally disappeared into the speed force and basically came back from the dead by virtue of his love for me?"

Piper had just known she was going to bring that one up. That incident had resulted in one of their first coffee-and-boy-talks. "Yes...this is different though."

"Maybe. You don't know because you're talking to me instead of him. Piper…I think heroes just fall in love differently from normal people. Especially lifers like Dick and Wally. They move a little fast, but that doesn't make it less real."

"No, I know that feeling when you're full of adrenaline and you've been in battle and you think you're in love with someone just because they're there when you're all worked up. It's something else, not love, and Dick should know better. Especially since he's a lifer like you said."

"Well…if you're that adamant that it's impossible for an attractive man you've got feelings for to love you…" Linda reached over and squeezed his hand. "Hartley, you're not a bad guy yourself you know. You deserve this. I know I've said some lousy things about Dick, but I'm not blind. He makes you happy. Just go with it."

"It's not so simple."

Linda didn't say anything more. She let go of his hand, smiled, and took a sip of her latte. She was disagreeing with him all the same.

* * *

When Piper got back to his place, it was to find his door unlocked and wide open. All of his sound traps were disarmed. He gave his home a quick listen, then made his way to the living room.

"It's been awhile James. What brings you by?"

James Jesse was lounging on his couch channel surfing, thankfully wearing jeans and a t-shirt and not those horrible hair band-esque tight pants he'd replaced his old costume with.

"You just said it yourself. Haven't seen you since you helped me save the kid who is apparently mine from a corrupt third world country government. How goes it?"

Piper shrugged. He wasn't over eager to catch up with his friend. The Trickster was much too perceptive for Piper's current comfort level, and going over his relationship problems with Linda was enough for one day. He decided to deflect. "I'm alright, I guess. How are Mindy and Billy? Have you seen them at all since we got back from Zhutan?"

"Yeah. They're back in California. I've been flying out once a month. Can't believe Mindy didn't tell me I had a son. Well, I mean I _can_…I know who I used to be…but anyway, what's going on with you?"

"Nothing," Piper said with the kind of forced casualty that was like a blaring siren to the Trickster. He winced, and that was a spot light.

"You know who else I've been catching up with?" James asked. "Catwoman. Haven't seen her since that thing in New York. Anyway, you'll never guess what she said…"

"That I'm dating Nightwing?" Piper supplied, since there seemed little point in trying to hide it.

"Well she said fucking, but I suppose the two aren't mutually exclusive. Really Piper? A _bat_?"

Piper shrugged, and finally sat down next to him. "Wally set us up and we hit it off. He's a great guy."

"And what's Papa Bat think about that?"

"He…wasn't a fan."

James snorted. "Bet that makes you look even better to the kid then. Piper, isn't he a little young for you? I mean, he was _Robin_ when we were first robbing banks. That's kinda gross."

"I thought you thought gay sex in general was gross." If Piper remembered correctly, James' opinions regarding Piper's sexual orientation weren't too far removed from Wally's.

"Well yeah, but it's worse when you add in matching green fairy booties."

Piper grimaced. "I'd actually never thought of it like that."

"Yeah, see? Anyway, I wasn't just talking about his actual age. He's pretty much the same age as Flash, right?" James asked. Piper nodded. "I meant more like mental age. I dunno. You guys seem like a weird fit for each other."

"I wasn't aware you were all that well acquainted with the Gotham heroes," Piper pointed out.

James shrugged. "Not through personal experience, but from what I've heard…anyway, I didn't come over to grill you about your new flame. Just wanted to catch up before I left."

"Left? You're leaving the cities again?" Piper asked.

"Mm hm." He expected James to say that he was heading out to California to get to know the son he'd just discovered, or maybe that he was going to be a special effects technician again. Hell, even rejoining the circus. Nearly anything but what James actually did say. "You're never going to believe this Piper, but I'm about to start working for the FBI."

Piper nodded, and then politely waited for the punch line. Which didn't come. "Wait, you're serious? You? James Jesse, you're working for the FBI?"

"Starting next week it's agent Jesse, and yeah. Pretty cool, huh?"

"I guess." Pretty random, really.

"So yeah, if you need me in the near future you're gonna have to look me up in Chicago. Now, I was thinking that since I'm about to become a pillar of justice-"

Piper snorted at that. James pretended to look exasperated, but he was smirking.

"Ahem, as I'm _about_ to become a pillar of justice and am still not exactly there yet," he continued, "that tonight we ought to do something fun and borderline illegal together. Wanna get shit faced and TP the Flash Museum like we used to in the old days?"

"In the old days I wasn't friends with the speedsters," Piper reminded him.

"So wear one of your brilliant disguises! And if we get caught you can always blame your actions on the fact that they've still got an unflattering mannequin of you in the villains section even though you've been reformed for ages now."

Piper scowled. He'd complained about that mannequin several times already, to the curator as well as Wally, and it was still up. "Fine. Let's get eggs and shaving cream too."

"Atta boy."

* * *

Between James' desire to spend time with Piper before moving out of the cities, and his parents' sudden demands on his free time, Piper wasn't able to sneak off to Bludhaven again to see Dick for almost another full week. Unlike last time though, he stayed in communication. They chatted and texted, and had some amazing late night phone conversations.

By the end of their second three hour long conversation, Piper was saying he loved Dick back. The skeptical, beaten down part of him insisted this wasn't necessarily true, and that he was just answering back because that's what you were supposed to do, but Piper wasn't focusing on those misgivings. It felt good to just indulge in the relationship and be happy. Besides, even if they were still getting to know each other, even if the 'I love yous' were a bit premature…it didn't mean they'd never actually be in love. Piper was falling for him a little more every day.

When he got into the city he decided to stop by that twenty four hour bakery first and grab some treats. He had another documentary with him, this one full of socialist propaganda, and he had a feeling éclairs and cuddling would go very nicely with the movie. Dick was already out on patrol when Piper got to the loft, so he put on some music, made himself comfortable and sat down with a book to wait for his boyfriend to get back.

There was something really, spectacularly wonderful about lounging on the sofa with a blanket that faintly smelled of his boyfriend thrown over him, reading a book he knew he'd be able to discuss to his heart's content in an hour or so. The documentary, which promised more quality discussion, was sitting on the coffee table in front of him, there were delicious desserts in the fridge, and no matter what wrench fate may decide to throw into their plans, Piper knew that the night would end in amazing sex. Because he was dating an incubus and even if Dick got shot, stabbed and thrown off a roof during his patrol, as long as he could crawl back to the loft he'd do it as seductively as he was able.

Piper couldn't ever remember being this happy. Maybe he'd reconsider that unwillingness he'd felt to move to Bludhaven. Keystone had plenty of superheroes guarding it after all, the only thing he'd really feel bad about leaving was his family…

Dick crawled in through the window a couple hours later, bleeding from a graze by his temple, but otherwise unscathed. He crouched in front of the couch to give Piper a kiss hello, then headed for the bathroom to shower and change.

"Do you need any help with that cut?" Piper called after him.

"Nah, I've patched up from worse."

"Right, let me rephrase that. Would you like any help with the cut?"

Dick poked his head back out of the bathroom. "Are you romantically offering to tend my injuries then?"

Piper smiled. "I guess."

"Alright sure, just gimme a few minutes."

Dick took his shower, and returned wearing sweats and carrying a small first aid kit. Piper had plated the éclairs and set them on the coffee table, and the DVD was on the menu screen. Based on Dick's smile, he felt something of the perfection of the moment that Piper had been indulging in since he'd gotten there. Then something pained flickered through his eyes, but it was gone so quickly that Piper wasn't quite sure he'd seen it.

Dick sprawled on the couch with his head on Piper's lap so that he could clean and bandage the cut, and also run his hands through his hair while Dick ate an éclair and they watched the movie. They shared a wonderful night which culminated in wonderful sex, just as Piper had expected.

Needless to say, he was a bit startled the next day when Dick broke up with him.


	18. Chapter 18

He should have known something was off when he woke up alone in bed feeling well rested. That never happened when Piper slept over Dick's.

The loft was empty, so he showered, dressed, and finished off the éclairs for a breakfast. He shot Dick a text to let him know that he was up and about and asked him where he was.

"Out for a walk. Back soon," Piper read aloud, partly to hear something other than the sounds of the streets below. The building was much too quiet. He put on music again and reached for his book, but nothing felt right. The contented atmosphere of the previous night had vanished, and he started to question his decisions again.

No, this was just his paranoia again. They'd been really honest with each other, and communicating much better than Piper ever had managed in any previous relationship. Last night had been wonderful. There was nothing wrong, he just needed to relax.

When Dick got back he skipped over his usual grope-happy greeting and sat down across from Piper, which wasn't exactly comforting.

"Alright, what's wrong?" Piper asked.

Dick forced a very weak smile onto his face. "What makes you think something's…?"

"Please don't insult me Dick. I may not be a detective, but I'm not stupid. Did something happen? You're okay, aren't you?" And if he was okay, then why weren't they cuddling? Normally he couldn't get the amorous young man off of him. He actually wasn't used to looking at Dick from across the room anymore, which only heightened the oddness of the conversation.

Dick scrubbed a hand through his hair. "I'm…I'm okay but we really need to talk."

"Okay. What about?" Piper asked, hoping that phrase didn't mean what it had always meant every time a boyfriend had ever uttered it to him. What had he done this time? Was Dick still mad about the week of silence and only realizing it now?

"Hartley…look, you're a really great guy and I've been having a lot of fun with you, but…um, there's…it's m-"

"Don't. Just don't say 'it's me not you'," Piper said, voice growing cold. "Do I have that right, you're breaking up with me?"

Dick nodded, then looked down at his knees. Piper hissed in a quick breath, then slowly let it out. "And you knew last night?"

"I was going to tell you when I got in but…but you came all the way here, and I didn't want to spoil the night-"

"So you think you were doing me a favor by waiting for today?" Piper snapped, suddenly feeling used. They'd slept together and Dick had known he was going to dump him in the morning. He'd fallen asleep in the man's arms, listening to his heartbeat and _this_ had been on his mind. "God, what is wrong with you?"

"I'm really sorry Hartley. I didn't want to hurt you."

"Then why on earth did you say you loved me when you clearly didn't mean it?" Piper demanded. "That really threw me! I spent time convincing myself you believed it and that we were going somewhere. I actually thought this was real, not some stupid whim of yours. So what is it? Do you just have that short an attention span, or is this how you're overcoming your self-sabotage, by just ending it before your self-conscious gets the chance?"

What Piper really wanted to know was what he'd done wrong. Considering he'd expected the relationship to end at any moment since it had started, Piper was surprised at the depth of his hurt feelings. He needed to know if there was any way to fix this, but he couldn't get the words out to ask.

Dick kept his eyes averted, now watching his nervously wringing hands. "I've been talking to an ex-girlfriend and she…she's the love of my life Piper. We've still got chemistry. I do care about you, but it's just different with this woman. I know that if we can work out our issues…" He paused at the derisive snort Piper gave. "Anyway, it didn't seem fair to keep dating you when I'm still in love with her."

"Oh, so this is another favor then?"

Dick frowned. "Well kind of."

Piper shook his head. "Unbelievable." He needed to get out of there, before he said or did something he was going to regret. Piper got to his feet, threw his things into his bag and started for the door. Dick caught up to him and grabbed his arm.

"Hartley, wait-"

"Save it."

"No, please wait. I want to talk about this. I don't want you to hate me," Dick pleaded.

"Right, because you honestly think that there's some way for this to end without a mess. That there's something you can say to make me forget that I've been strung along and used for the past few weeks, since you clearly never got over this old girlfriend of yours and instead of working through those issues you just threw yourself into a series of new relationships of which I've been the most recent. And instead of being honest with yourself and me, you convinced yourself you loved me when you didn't, and you actually fooled me too. You _hurt_ me. Grow up and own it." And with that he left, leaving Dick looking dejected, watching him from the doorway.

* * *

Linda was working on her laptop when Wally walked up to her and sadly placed a crumpled fifty dollar bill on the keyboard. With raised eyebrows she looked up at him, and then let out a small gasp at the expression on his face. "They didn't…"

"They did. Figured that meant I lost the fifty."

Linda scowled. "Honestly, that's what your mind went to? That stupid bet?"

"Well…I mean I lost, didn't I?"

"They dated for almost a month, you can keep the fifty dollars Wally."

"Cool." He pocketed the money again, and then sat down across from her at their kitchen table, looking sulky. "Piper just called me and told me. He said he didn't want to put me in the middle of anything and that he was okay, but I think it was all bullshit. He was a little too cheerful for a guy who's just been dumped. It wasn't very convincing."

"Did he tell you what happened?" Linda asked.

"He said Dick's pursuing one of his ex-girlfriends. I hope it's not Babs again. I don't know how many times she's going to get his hopes up and then hit him with a crushing rejection before he gives up…and if that's what it is then he just threw away something really good for no reason."

Linda nodded, but didn't say anything. She stared into space for a moment, chewing on her lip. Wally was starting to feel concerned. "Hon? You okay?"

Calmly, Linda shut her laptop and stood up. She paced across the kitchen a couple times, then suddenly slammed her hands down on the table. "That son of a bitch!" Wally jumped, startled. "I just talked Hartley into letting his guard down! I TOLD HIM TO JUST TRUST DICK AND BE HAPPY AND HE GOES AND BREAKS UP WITH HIM? That stupid, selfish, pig headed _asshole_!"

Wally gaped at her, not sure if he'd ever seen that side of his wife before. He'd heard from Piper and his aunt Iris that after he'd "died" while fighting Kobra, Linda had gone a little nuts and grabbed one of the hench's blasters. He wondered if she'd had that same enraged expression on her face then too.

"Sorry, sorry." Linda took a few deep breaths and sat back down. "I just can't believe it. I really thought they were going to work out…"

"I know, me too. It was nice to see them both happy for once." Wally sighed. "And I really, really don't want to have to put up with the aftermath when Babs puts Dick's heart through the wringer again. Linda, why is my best friend such an idiot?"

"Because boys are stupid Wally."

"Yeah, we really fucking are."

Linda threw him a weak smile, then stood up again. "Where are you off to?" Wally asked, watching her get her purse and her coat.

"I'm going to go check on Piper."

"He said he wanted to be alone for awhile. He's probably listening to a good break up album and stewing in bitterness or something. Best leave him to it."

"I'll see you later Wally," Linda said, a sharp edge to her voice. Knowing better than to fight her on this, Wally kissed her goodbye and went upstairs to make sure he still had a hat and a deck of playing cards. When Piper was ready to talk, he wanted to have the traditional break-up hat to throw the traditional cards into ready.

* * *

But Linda didn't go to Piper's apartment. Halfway there she changed her mind and went to the train station. And so, when Nightwing got in from patrol that night he found Linda Park-West waiting for him on his sofa.

Scowling, he peeled his mask off and started hobbling to the bathroom. His right leg was injured and he really wanted to just deal with it and go to bed. Linda followed after him and stood in the doorway with her arms folded over her chest while he sat on the toilet and bandaged himself up from the first aid kit, silently judging him.

"Now's not a good time," Dick ground out, flinching every so often while he gave himself stitches. Linda didn't say anything, just continued silently glaring at him. Once he finished with the leg he hobbled to the bedroom, changed into a pair of sweatpants, and then hobbled into the living room and sat down on the couch. Linda stood in front of him, arms still crossed.

"Look, whatever Hartley said…" Dick trailed off. Linda's gaze was very disconcerting. He'd always teased Wally for the way he freaked out whenever he and Linda had a fight, but if this was what he was treated to…suddenly Dick felt a lot of sympathy for his friend.

"Um…Linda, what did Hartley tell you? Because to be honest, it wasn't that bad a breakup. He really did most of it himself. Didn't let me get much of a word in edgewise."

She still wasn't saying anything. Dick took a deep breath, and then looked up and met her gaze. So she was good with intimidating stares. Fine, Dick's primary authority figure and guardian during his rebellious teen years had been _Batman_. He could handle an intimidating stare.

Except nine times out of ten when Bruce stared him down, he didn't actually feel bad about what he'd done. After a few minutes of tense silence, Dick looked away and chewed at his lip. "I'm sorry."

"You're damn right you are," Linda finally ground out. "And you'll be even more sorry when more time goes by. You're a stupid, selfish man and you just did a stupid, selfish thing."

"Linda, come on, it wasn't that bad a-" He stood and walked over to her, needing her to understand his side for some reason, and she slapped him across the face hard enough that he staggered backwards a few paces before sitting back down, rubbing at his cheek. "…ow."

Dick chanced a look up at her, and found that she'd gone back to silently glaring. "Come on Linda, we weren't even together that long."

"No, you weren't. So why did you try so damn hard to convince him you cared about him and that he was special if he wasn't? Why'd you make him believe you loved him if you were just going to dump him when something better came along? That's not okay!"

"I do love Hartley!" Dick insisted. "I just love Babs more. It's a quantitative kind of thing-"

"_That's not how love works_!" Linda shrieked. "Maybe you had feelings for Piper, and maybe it could have turned into love, but clearly it wasn't there yet if you could do something like this to him!"

"And just what the hell makes you think you know how I feel about anybody?" Dick demanded.

"Grayson, how many people do you think you're in love with? Hm? All your exes? That's not how a mature adult handles relationships. You can care about loads of people, but _love_ is something significant, and it takes work, and it involves sacrifice and empathy and generally not wanting to tear the other person's heart out. Ask Wally about it sometime. And you'd damn well better make sure you figure out what it really is before you go telling someone else you love them."

She turned on her heel and left the loft, slamming the door shut behind her. Dick stared at the spot she'd been standing, leg throbbing painfully, cheek stinging, and thoughts now a confused mess.

He really hoped she wasn't right about him…


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

"Hey. So…how're you doing?"

Piper shrugged. "Okay. The shock of it wore off, and now I guess I'm just kind of surprised it lasted as long as it did."

Wally nodded, but didn't say anything. In the absence of a boyfriend to motivate him into wanting to look nice, Piper had devolved back into his slovenly hacker shut-in mode. He needed a shave, and he was wearing a free t-shirt from a charity event he'd volunteered at six years ago with ripped sweatpants. When Piper looked like that, it was kind of hard to imagine him dating anyone for any length of time.

He'd cut his hair though. Wally thought the close cropped style suited him better than the stupid hippie ponytail he'd had almost as long as they'd known each other.

"So how's he doing?" Piper asked.

Wally sat down across from him in Piper's living room and helped himself to a slice of pizza, mostly because he was hungry but also to put off answering. This was what he'd most dreaded when he'd found out his friends had broken up (and also when he realized them breaking up was a possible consequence of hooking them up to begin with): he _really_ didn't want to talk about the one to the other. But Dick had already asked him about Piper, and he'd survived that conversation so he felt obligated to do the same for Piper.

"He's…he's doing okay, I guess. A little shaken."

"Really?" Piper looked confused. "I wasn't under the impression the break up was bothering him much. Anyway, he didn't _seem_ to care much about dumping me."

Wally hadn't seen Piper speak so bitterly about anything other than social politics. He was a little thrown.

"Er...Linda went over and yelled at him yesterday. He tried to pretend otherwise, but I think she got under his skin."

"She shouldn't have gotten involved," Piper muttered darkly.

"She slapped him." Wally grinned, watching Piper try not to laugh.

"Sorry. I know he's still your friend, but he kind of deserved that."

"Piper, Dick is one of the best friends I'll ever have…and he _completely _deserved that. I'm really sorry I set you guys up. I knew he wasn't good with relationships. I just kinda hoped that since you're both awesome people that…I dunno, that you'd be awesome together."

"Wally…you don't have to apologize," Piper said, frowning. "I wish things had turned out differently, but I'm glad I dated him even if it was only for a few weeks. It was a good few weeks and besides, I needed something to change to get my confidence back. I think next time I'm going to try to stick with someone my own age though."

"That might be for the best, yeah. So you're really okay?"

Piper nodded. "Really. I'm very okay. Though you are completely welcome to tell me about anything horrible that happens to Dick while he's pursuing this girlfriend of his. Seriously, if you find out that she's playing with his head, heart or both, I want to be the first to know."

Wally laughed. "You and Linda both. So other than the obvious, what have you been up to? Any new charity projects or anything?"

"Just the usual volunteering rounds. I got a weird email from my dad the other day, so I'm probably going to have to pay my parents a visit soon. Nothing exciting really."

"Weird how? Are your folks alright?" Wally asked. He grinned, remembering the circumstances under which he'd first met the Rathaways. "Your dad's not trying to make a quick buck by messing with supervillains again, is he?"

"Urgh…" Piper rolled his eyes. "The email was really cryptic, but I think he's going to bring up _my_ former supervillainy again. I really thought we were past that, but every now and then he gets into a funny mood and throws it in my face. Sometimes it feels like no matter how hard I try to move on from all that mess, it's still going to crop up and ruin things for me. I was a different person then. I wish everyone'd just let it go and focus on what I am now instead."

"I'm sorry dude, that sucks. You know I don't, like, think of you as being at all like the cackling polka dots version, right? Seriously, I've got this weird separation in my mind, that there's like the Pied Piper my uncle used to fight, and then there's you and you're my buddy."

"I'm somehow not surprised. Thanks Wally…it's nice to know at least one person doesn't expect me to snap and start robbing banks again."

"Any time."

* * *

Piper did end up taking the drive to the outskirts of Central City to visit his parents. Being dumped had given him a lot of free time, so really, he had no excuse not to. Sometimes he enjoyed visiting his parents, and he was truly happy he'd reconciled with them, but their history was troubling. He always approached his childhood home with a slight feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach, and with a vivid memory of what it had felt like when he'd run away playing in his mind.

'You're not a scared teenager anymore, and they love you,' he reminded himself. They'd even _mostly_ come around on his sexuality (Rachel still asked every now and then if he was completely sure he was homosexual, and if he might not consider a heterosexual tryst for the sake of grandbabies). He showed up armed with a boquet of flowers for his mother as a sort of peace offering, and hoped they'd just have a nice lunch and not grill him too harshly about his past.

When he parked outside the mansion, his feeling of dread increased but for reasons completely unrelated to the lingering awkwardness he felt with his family. This time, his superhero experience was sending up alarms. Piper had robot enhanced hearing, and he was _not_ hearing the normal background noises he associated with his parents' house. There should have been chatter, footsteps, some kind of indication of the four people who lived at the Rathaway house: Osgood and Rachel Rathaway, the maid and the butler. There also should have been noises from the two dobermans his parents kept.

Piper reached into the glove compartment, extracted a sound gun, and made his way carefully around the back.

* * *

Dick got in from a team-up in Gotham, bone weary tired in a way he hadn't felt since he'd lived in the city and put up with Bruce's "teamwork" on a regular basis. He collapsed onto his bed still wearing his costume, despite knowing he'd regret it later when the nice, fluffy down comforter Alfred had given him ended up smelling like criminals and sweat. At the moment he didn't care.

Then his face planted in a part of the bedding that still smelled like Piper, despite the absence of almost a week. Dick inhaled deeply without initially realizing what he was doing or why, just enjoying the sensation of contentment that went with the smell. Then he mentally catalogued the distinct mix of organic shampoo, musk and burned metal (from constructing his soundguns, Dick assumed) that meant Piper.

"Dammit."

Getting chewed out and slapped had prompted him to consider the possibility that he may have made a mistake in breaking up with Piper. His reaction to the man's scent lingering on his bedding confirmed it.

He glanced at the cell phone sitting on his nightstand and thought through the short list of people he could go to to talk about something like this. Wally jumped immediately to mind, but that was a bad idea for a whole host of reasons (he'd positively iced over when Dick had simply asked if Piper was okay). He couldn't talk about this with Roy or Korey since they were both exes, he couldn't talk about it with Babs since he was actively trying to get back together with her, assuming he managed to get over Hartley...and he wasn't punchy enough to think it was ever a good idea to talk about his romantic life with Bruce.

'I wonder if Superman's busy...'

He ended up dragging himself back out of bed, showering, and sleeping on the otherside of the bed from the pocket of ex-boyfriend smell. When he woke up around noon the next day he was hugging the pillow Piper had used to his face, curled up in a cocoon on Piper's side of the bed.

Slowly, Dick lowered the pillow, reached over to the nightstand for his cell and called Clark.

* * *

Dick still vividly remembered the first time he'd visited Superman for one-on-one time to help himself through a personal crisis. He was fifteen years old, and was feeling close to nervous collapse from all the work he'd taken on. At the time, he'd been an honors student, he was patroling nearly every night with Bruce while working some cases on his own, and he'd been leading the highly reluctant first line-up of the Teen Titans. Though they were all really close now, after nearly a decade of intermittently working together, at first the personalities in the team hadn't worked together at all well, and he'd honestly thought he was going to get the other kids killed if he didn't solve all their problems. Because that's what responsible leaders did (or so he'd believed).

He'd tagged along with Bruce at a Justice League meeting one particularly overburdened weekend, when he had a mountain of homework due on Monday and was fresh from a tension filled Titans meeting thanks to Roy and Donna announcing their plans to go out on a date (Dick had been making out with Roy on and off for a month, which he learned that day did not equal dating, and Wally had spent the meeting alternating between looks of loathing at Roy and longing towards Donna). But he did a good job hiding the stress from the Leaguers, and acted every bit the goody two shoes, peppy teen sidekick they knew him to be.

Then Superman had drawn him aside and quietly asked him if everything was alright.

"Huh? Yeah, sure. I'm fine." He'd fixed a wide grin on his face, the one that always fooled Alfred and Bruce.

"Look, Robin, your heartbeat and respiration are accelerated in the same way as someone about to have a nervous breakdown."

"O-oh. Well yeah, um...I suppose there are a few things, um..." He really didn't know what to say. How could you argue with alien super senses? Dick had started shooting the occasional nervous glance towards where Bruce was standing, chatting with Zatanna. He didn't want his mentor to think he was weak. It was just a little stress, he could handle it.

Superman picked up on that too. He'd bracingly patted Dick's arm and then gone over and shared a quiet word with Bruce. Fifteen minutes later, they were sitting at a dinner table in Kansas sharing a warm meal with Clark's parents, whom Dick believed were quite possibly the nicest people in existence (and hard to startle; Clark had just flown them into the kitchen without calling ahead, or even changing out of their costumes). Then he'd taken Dick for a flyover the family farm, they'd found a nice place to sit, and he'd listened while Dick poured out his problems.

Thanks to that chat, Clark was the first person to find out Dick was bisexual (well...other than Roy). He'd been a bit startled, but sympathetic and supportive, and eventually helped Dick find the strength to break the news to Bruce (which had been terribly anticlimactic. Bruce responded with "Oh, you finally figured that out?").

And almost a decade later, Clark's methods were pretty much the same. Dick was treated to a family dinner at the Kent house, and then they'd wandered the farm, this time in civilian clothes.

"You know, I think if your mom and Alfred teamed up and mass produced a line of desserts, they'd have enough money to own Bruce in less than a year," Dick joked.

"Mm, the profits from the apple pie alone could finance a private island," Clark agreed. "So what's wrong?"

Dick sighed. "I made a mistake, and I don't think I can take it back."

"Why not? What happened?" Clark asked, an expression of judgment-free concern on his face that was alien to the Bat-family.

"...I broke up with someone who was kind of sort of perfect for me in every way that counts...and he's smarter than me, so I don't think he'll take me back."

"Why'd you break up with him?" Clark asked, though Dick would have been shocked if he didn't already know. Not only was he talking to Superman, who had the perfect powers for eavesdropping, but he was also talking to perceptive reporter Clark Kent. And much to Dick's annoyance, his complicated love life was a favorite gossip topic for the Watchtower's watercooler.

"I, um...well Babs and I _might_ start dating again so...I wanted to be free just in case. But um...I spent a lot of time making him think the relationship was really serious, since it was...up until Babs and I...er..."

Clark nodded, and didn't say anything for a moment.

"Wally's wife smacked me. You can just say it, I already know."

"If you already know then I don't need to say anything."

Even after all this time, Dick was still a little thrown by Clark's ability to openly support you even when you'd screwed up. It was the same sort of comforting relationship he'd had with his parents, an atmosphere he'd desperately missed when he'd become Bruce's ward. Ah, the difference a trauma-free childhood with well adjusted authority figures could make.

"When did you break up with your boyfriend?" Clark asked.

"Last week," Dick answered. "I figure it's probably a bad idea to go crawling back to him, even though I really want to. He was really angry at me for ending it. He, um...he thinks I was being emotionally immature."

"If he was hurt, it was because he cared about you too. I'd give it a little time, so he knows you've considered things and that this isn't another whim," here Clark pierced him with a stare that blatantly added 'and make sure you _know_ it's not a whim this time', "and then you should try talking to him."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."

"It doesn't hurt to grovel a little too."

Dick laughed. "I figured that out on my own, thanks."

"You know, I didn't actually hear anything about you and this boyfriend of yours. What's he like?" Clark asked.

"Bruce didn't tell you?"

"Nope."

"Oh." Dick couldn't help but laugh at that. After their two disastrous meetings, Bruce had left Piper alone and never mentioned him again, which meant he figured the only way he could respect a choice Dick made that he didn't approve of was to take no measure of involvement at all, up to and including not confiding in one of his closest friends (apparently). "Wally set me up with his friend Piper."

"Piper...the chubby guy with the polka dot dress?" Clark asked, looking a bit startled.

So was Dick. "Chubby? Piper's got an amazing body. And I've never seen him in a dress. He used to wear a polka dotted tunic with tights though."

"I worked with them once, but it was quite a few years ago now. I guess he lost the weight," Clark said with a shrug. "He seemed nice enough. I had a hard time deciding how I felt about him though. I think he'd only just reformed. He was a little afraid of me."

"Yeah, he was pretty terrified of Bruce."

Clark laughed at that. "Bruce does have a way of traumatizing your would-be suitors."

"Tell me about it," Dick muttered. "When did you work with Piper?"

"I asked Wally for some help one of the many times Jimmy got in over his head following a lead for the paper. We ended up needing a decoy Flash to take down the terrorist that was holding Jimmy hostage, so Wally called Piper up. I was impressed with the bravery he showed. He could have gotten seriously hurt, taking fire that was meant for-"

"And he was fat?" Dick asked, still having a hard time picturing it.

Clark smiled at him indulgently. "Emotionally immature, he called you?"

"Oh shut up."

* * *

_A/N: Remember everyone, reviews encourage writers and encouraged writers update faster :)_

_Even if I don't get many reviews for this one though, I'll try to have another chapter up before the end of the month. Thanks to everyone who has shown interest in this massive fic. As you can probably tell, I'm gearing up for another somewhat more plot-driven story arc, so thanks for the support and the occasional bit of inspiration._

_Quick note on Piper's hair. In the comics, when he goes to see his parents he's drawn with the long ponytail, but when they reference that moment SEVERAL issues down the line, Wally spots the difference between Piper and an imposter because he'd had a haircut before visiting his parents. Ergo, long or short hair are both work because of a tiny mistake. _


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

Piper barely remembered leaving his parents' house. From the moment when he walked inside, everything was a daze. He remembered being angry and hurt and lashing out…and then he remembered the sight of his mother lying on the floor, too still and stiff, eyes open in unseeing terror. His father in front of her, trying to protect Rachel, covered in bloodied lacerations from the flying glass.

That memory stood out clearest and he couldn't see past it.

How he got back to Keystone in one piece was beyond him, but he managed it. His hands and the front of his shirt were both smeared with blood.

His shirt…he was wearing his costume? Had he been wearing that when he left? There was a sharp pain in Piper's head. He gave himself a little shake and closed his eyes, and when his head cleared he remembered hearing something suspicious in the house, so he'd changed into his costume and armed himself before heading inside to investigate.

And since his dad had been angry at him already, when Osgood had seen Piper in costume he'd lost his temper and they'd both flipped out. And then Piper…and then he'd…

He staggered into the bathroom and threw up.

* * *

Unsurprisingly, but to his great annoyance, Dick was having a hard time getting in touch with Piper. He'd waited a couple weeks (a couple weeks that felt much longer than they were), and when at the end of them he was absolutely sure that it was Hartley he wanted, he gave himself a little pep talk, picked up his phone and called Piper.

He wasn't exactly surprised when the phone went to voicemail, but he also wasn't comfortable leaving a message. The next two days were spent consciously limiting how many times he was allowed to call Piper (he _hoped_ three times a day wasn't too stalker-ish). The last two times he called the phone didn't ring, it went directly to voicemail.

Shit. Had Hartley turned his phone off because of Dick harassing him? (Was seven calls in three days harassment?)

He held his breath, hoped Linda didn't answer, and finally called Wally.

"Hey, what's up? _Ow_-"

"Don't poke it Wally!" Came a voice from the background.

Dick frowned. "Hey dude, it's me. Um...what are you not supposed to poke?"

"Oh, just a new scar. Guess which redhead almost got sacrificed to a crazy cult this time?" Wally asked.

"No way..."

"Yeah man. Ritual daggers and everything. Ouch! _Jeeze_! That really stings."

"Well quit poking it!" It was Linda yelling, though she sounded more amused than exasperated.

"But it's itchy...ah well." There was a muffled rustling as Wally shifted the phone and walked into a new room. "So what's up?"

"I was wondering if you'd heard from Piper lately..." Dick rolled his eyes, waiting out the groan of dismay that comment generated.

"Come on Dick...why are you trying to call Piper?" Wally whined.

"He's trying to what?" Linda screeched from the background.

"Oops." There was another rustling and then a thud as Wally dropped the phone. Dick hung up and massaged his temple. Less than a minute later, Wally was knocking on his door. He walked over and let him in. "Sorry 'bout that. Um...so why're you trying to call Piper?"

Dick walked over to his sofa and flopped down while Wally perched on the coffee table. "Because I miss him. I miss him a lot, and I really need to grovel, but I can't grovel if I can't talk to him."

Wally frowned. "I think the fact that he's not answering the phone is kind of a hint. Like a really not subtle hint."

"Like a hint even you'd get?"

"Oh shut up."

Dick smirked. "I know, and that's fair. It's just...the last couple of times I called his phone was off. It's always rung before voicemail before, even when he was avoiding me that one week. I'm a little worried."

Wally was patting at his pockets for his phone before he realized he'd left it in Keystone. "Oops. Be right back." He zipped out of the loft and returned a moment later with his phone. He dialed Piper and waited. "Yeah, it's off. That is a little weird. He normally stays in touch in case I need him."

Dick's insides gave an uncomfortable squirm. He took a deep breath before speaking. "How was he the last time you saw him?"

"Distant and awkward, actually. He said he was having a hard time with his family again," Wally answered. "I was gonna talk to him about it, but me and Linda talked and we thought it was better to give him space."

"What do you mean again?" Dick asked. Wally quirked an eyebrow. "He, uh, never mentioned his family problems to me."

"When he was a kid he had a huge blowout with them," Wally said. "Mr. Rathaway lost his shit when he realized Hartley was gay. So he stole some money, ran away from home and lived out of his car until he hooked up with a thug for protection."

"Oh wow...he never mentioned any of that." In fact, he'd done the reverse, always slipping in wry comments about his silver spoon background. Dick had had no idea that Piper had also experienced the other end of the socioeconomic spectrum.

"Yeah, from what I understand he got into villainy to make enough money to get by, and that's what got him into the activism. You know, actually being homeless for awhile." Wally shrugged. "Anyway, his parents freaked out even more when he became a supervillain, and they didn't start talking to him again until after he'd been reformed for almost a year."

"Wow. So...you think that's it? He's just having a big fight with them again and needs space?"

Wally shook his head. "I think he'd be talking to me at least if it was just that. Shit...look, Dick, do not take this as me not respecting your feelings, but I need to ask you to do something really important for me. I need you to back off. Whatever's going on, Piper doesn't need your head games on top of it."

Dick recoiled. "It's not like that! I-"

"Will make everything worse, even if you don't mean to. I know you care about him, okay? I believe you. But this can wait. He's most likely still going to be single when he works through whatever's going on."

Dick nodded. "Yeah, I...you're right. I just want to help him if he's in trouble."

"I know, I've got the heroic wiring too y'know," Wally teased. "I'll keep you in the loop, okay?"

"Won't Linda object to that?"

"Sure, if she finds out. So...things didn't work with you and Babs?"

Dick shrugged. "I didn't bother waiting around for her long enough to find out. I love her, and I always will, but she has commitment issues. And that should really mean something coming from me."

"Yeah, no kidding. Course, I'd say your issue is that you _over_commit."

"Touché. So...you are going to take a run by Hartley's place now, right?"

"Yep yep, on my way." Wally took off in a flurry of movement that Dick couldn't follow, but he strolled over to a window and watched the scarlet blur make its way out of Bludhaven.

He really hoped he was just being paranoid.

* * *

Wally really did mean to run by Piper's and check in on him too. Unfortunately he got sidetracked. Now, this wasn't to say that he wasn't normally busy as a superhero, but lately he was having a hard time finding the space to breathe. Between Chunk getting shot in the chest and Grodd's rampage downtown, he got completely distracted and didn't get around to following up on Piper until it was too late.

That asshole Wolfe pulled him aside once he finally got the psychotic ape to go down. Wally distinctly didn't like the pleased look on Wolfe's face. The man was a sadist: if he was happy about something then someone else was suffering.

"Grodd is my prisoner," Wolfe informed Wally. They were standing in view of the unconscious superpoewred gorilla that Wally had just taken great pains to knock out. As far as he was concerned, hell was going to freeze over before a dangerous creature like Grodd was locked up in _his_ cities.

Wally chewed his lip, biting back some choice words, took a deep breath, and prepared to contradict the jerk, hoping it went better than the last time they'd butted heads.

"Look, Iron Heights is a fortress, I'll give you that." In regards to keeping prisoners on the inside, it was doing its job a helluva lot better than it ever had before. However, unlike in the old days, Wally was actually worried about the prisoners he sent to the fortress. "But you can not cage Grodd. We need to get him out of our country and back into his."

"We can't return him to Gorilla City, Flash," Wolfe immediately deflected, barely acknowledging Wally. "With the government in anarchy there, he will not be punished." Yeah, because that was the purpose of the justice system. Hoo boy, they didn't agree on anything. "You know that. Iron Heights is prepared to deal with him. I'm prepared."

Wally tried not to roll his eyes. "You think you are warden. Whose bright idea was this little pony show anyway, yours?" He really wanted to hear how the guy would explain that carting Grodd through a highly populated area in the middle of the day without informing the local superhero who'd regularly fought the beast for years was a responsible idea. Clearly the disrespectful tone bothered him. Anger crossed warden Wolfe's face for barely a second before he quirked his lips into that satisfied smirk that had creeped Wally out at the start of their conversation.

"I almost forgot to mention Flash…" In that he'd blatantly been dying to say it. "I have some very interesting news about a friend of yours."

Wally narrowed his eyes. "I wouldn't call Fallout a friend of mine, but good. You're ready to admit me and Piper didn't hallucinate seeing him plugged into your basement-"

Wolfe laughed, and it was one of the most disturbing sounds Wally had ever heard. More disturbing than Batman laughing, even. "There's a team of men on their way to bring in Rathaway this very minute Flash. For murder. I'm surprised you didn't already know, but then, I had hoped to be the one to break the news. I've been saying it for years: there's no such thing as a reformed villain."

Before he could think better of it, Wally grabbed Wolfe by the collar of his suit jacket and shoved him into the nearest brick wall. As this was several feet away, the burst of superspeed made the impact pretty impressive, knocking the wind out of the windbag and forcing him to shut up for a minute. "You're full of shit! You _know_ Piper's not a killer, so just what in the hell are you playing at? Even when he was a supervillain he didn't kill people!" Wally yelled.

Wolfe was clinging to Wally's hands, trying to get him to let go but he wasn't finished yet. He was vaguely aware of the people gathered nearby, pointing and staring, and of the policemen approaching with their weapons drawn.

"Why are you spouting this bullshit anyway? What's wrong with you? We're supposed to work together you prick! Why are you lying about my best friend?"

"Flash, calm down. Flash…" And then Fred Chyre was at his side, hesitantly touching his arm. Wally let go of Wolfe and the man fell to his knees before he got his balance back. The bastard was still smirking. "Flash…it's true. The Piper's a murder suspect."

"But he _wouldn't_," Wally insisted. "He was never a killer."

"Wasn't for lack of trying though, was it?" Wolfe asked, and Chyre and his partner Morillo both stepped between Wally and the warden. "Or don't you remember former mayor Pinchot and his private plane?"

Wally really wanted to hit him, and was halfway around Chyre before he thought better of it. Thankfully he moved so fast that no one noticed what he'd been trying to do.

Wally hadn't known Piper when he'd tried to kill the former mayor. That had happened while his uncle Barry had still been Flash, and he'd never asked Piper about it. It was an awkward subject. He did know one pretty important thing about it though.

"That happened right before Piper had a complete mental breakdown! He wasn't himself."

"Flash, don't argue with him," Morillo hissed.

"He's right kid. Don't you have better places to be right now?" Chyre asked pointedly, and without a second thought Wally took off. He swung by the college to get Linda, and they both went to see Piper.

* * *

The visit with Piper was painful in a way Wally wasn't prepared for. By the time he'd gotten Linda, Morillo and Chyre were back at the station, and they told him who Piper was supposed to have killed. He couldn't believe it.

He and Linda went in fully expecting to comfort Piper a little, and then get right to work on figuring out who really committed the murder, but of course nothing went as planned. For some reason he hadn't expected Hartley to cry…Wally never did well watching people cry, especially when there was nothing he could do about it.

And then when Piper admitted to the murders…

Well, kind of. He'd said "I think I did," which wasn't exactly a rock hard confession, something Wally eagerly pointed out to Linda that night while they were discussing things in their living room over a pizza (neither of them felt like cooking; Linda's hands were still shaking and Wally figured if he hadn't been bugging her, she wouldn't be eating at all).

"Who says 'I think I did'? Either you killed someone or you didn't."

"He was upset Wally," Linda said slowly, as though he were a child. Most of the time he enjoyed bantering with his wife, but at the moment it wasn't doing anything to calm his nerves. Sometimes they got just a little too locked into their rapport and she seemed to forget that underneath his somewhat flaky exterior, Wally actually was quite the competent superhero. He narrowed his eyes, and she chewed her lip and looked away. "Anyway, I don't think he was worried about clear communication."

"But even taking into account his emotional duress…what does that mean? 'I think I did'. How could he be unsure?" Wally got up and started pacing. "And doesn't that level of emotion kind of imply that he didn't do it? I mean for chrissakes Linda, he hugged me and cried…"

"I know. I know, none of it makes sense. But well…he does have a history of this sort of thing, doesn't he?"

Wally stopped short. "You don't think he did it, do you?"

"He admitted it Wally."

"Piper's not a killer."

"Not when he's in his right mind, but…I mean, right before we all became friends he was involuntarily committed to a mental hospital for trying to kill someone. He was out of his mind then. He could have had a relapse." Linda hugged her arms, a shudder running through her. "Don't look at me like that Wally. You know I'm friends with him too, and right now I'm too busy being scared for Hartley to deal with you hating me for this."

"Sorry, sorry." Wally sat down next to her and pulled her into his arms. Linda curled against him and let out a small sob.

"If he was going downhill again, why didn't he tell us?"

"I don't know," Wally whispered. "He was alone last time, maybe he thought he had to be alone again. I could've been a better friend. I got so caught up in my own stuff-"

"No, you didn't. The Cities have been going crazy." Linda pulled away enough to look Wally in the eye. "This was not your fault." Then her face crumpled. "It was mine! All I had was school, and I completely let everything else drop. I haven't met up with Hartley since he and Dick were having problems. I'm a shitty friend."

"No, Linda, you can't-oh shit. I haven't told Dick about this yet."

"Dick? So what? You don't need to tell him. He broke up with-"

Wally kissed her cheek, wiped the tears from her eyes and then stood up. "I know how you feel about the guy, but Linda, he's been crazy worried about Piper. I gotta tell him before he reads about it in the paper."

"Too late."

They both jumped, Linda instinctually reaching for the JL communicator in her purse and Wally shifting to the Flash costume in a burst of light. Dick was standing by the open window behind them dressed in dark colored street clothes. He quirked an eyebrow. "That's new."

"Side effect of the cult thing. Dude, what are you doing here? And for the record sane people knock on the front door!" Wally yelled.

"I heard you talking and I didn't want to interrupt." He tossed a newspaper on the coffee table. The headline showed Piper in full costume being led into the Keystone jail. "I told you something was off."

"I know, and I agreed with you, didn't I?" Wally snapped.

Linda clapped loudly. "Children, I think it's safe to say that we're only wasting time blaming each other."

Dick and Wally nodded begrudgingly.

"Once we get past the fact that clearly this was Dick's fault for insensitively dumping Hartley out of the blue and plunging him into an unhealthy mental state," She added.

Dick pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't think our breakup turned Hartley psychotic, but I must say, you have a lot of faith in him if you can say something like that."

"Don't make me smack you again bird boy-"

"Hey-hey-whoa-_hey_!" Wally yelled, and they stopped squabbling. "You know hon, it's kinda freaking me out to see you being less mature then me."

"Sorry. I'll restore the universe to its proper order." She waved an arm at him in a conciliatory fashion, and then turned to face Dick with an expression of cool disregard on her face. "Well, you've got more experience with the mentally unstable than either of us. What do you think? I'm having nearly as much trouble as Wally processing the idea of Hartley killing anybody…least of all his parents."

"It's…definitely a bad sign that he didn't talk about them while we were dating. I mean he did a little, but it was throwaway stuff from society parties. I didn't know anything about the problems he'd had with them-"

"You dated for less than a month," Linda pointed out. "I didn't let Wally in on my families foibles until a few months before we got engaged."

"True, but we did talk about screwed up family stuff after he met Bruce," Dick pointed out. "And we talked a lot about our emotional scars and commitment problems. It seems like he put up a mental barrier regarding his family. Anyway, like I said, it's just not a good sign. I'm with Wally. I don't think Piper's a killer." He turned to Wally. "What's this thing you were talking about where he has a history? You said he tried to kill someone before?"

Linda scowled. "Okay, I really don't like the idea that you were crouching out our window listening to us for that long."

"It's a Bat-thing Linda, you get used to it," Wally said.

"I have no intention of ever getting used to it, just so we're clear." Linda's expression made Dick involuntarily step back a few paces.

Wally decided to jump in. "Years ago when he was still a villain, Piper tried to kill the old mayor. It was during Uncle Barry's homicide trial. He hypnotized the mayor into crashing his plane, and Barry just barely managed to save him. Then like two days later Piper cracked up so bad he was involuntarily committed to-"

"Breedmore hospital," Dick finished. "He mentioned seeing a therapist while he was at a hospital once and I looked into it. From the looks of the breakdown he had, I have no problem believing he wasn't responsible for himself when he tried to kill the mayor. Did he ever do anything else like that?"

Wally shook his head. "He was a gimmick thief, not a killer."

Dick nodded. "And…was his relationship with his parents really that messed up?"

"It was bad but…you could always tell they loved each other, whatever else was going on," Wally said. "Man…this sucks. We gotta get him out of Iron Heights. I'll visit him tomorrow. I can't think of him sitting in a cell by himself just stewing in this."

Linda was hugging her arms again with her head down.

Dick carefully touched her shoulder and she flinched. "Linda, can we please declare a truce? I want to help with this, but I'm going to have a hard time if you keep biting my head off. And I promise, even if I'm a sucky partner, I am a pretty good detective."

Linda wiped at her eyes, and nodded. "Fine. W-wait a minute. Do you think Hartley's innocent? He said he did it."

"No, he said he thought he did. Wally's right, that's freaking bizarre," Dick replied. "Besides, I fell pretty hard for the guy. Before I give up on him, I'm going to have to find out beyond a shadow of a doubt that he's one hundred percent guilty."

"You know, they do have a confession and they have the murders on film," Wally pointed out. He kept his eyes on Linda when Dick responded.

Dick snorted. "No offense Wally, but you don't have the experience I do with weird murder cases. A shaky confession and a little footage on a security camera doesn't mean anything to me." He nodded at the couple and then departed, out the front door this time.

Wally and Linda listened to the motorcycle peel away and then sat on the couch next to each other. Wally calmly took a bite of pizza, reassured that at least there was another hero investigating things now, while Linda nervously tapped her fingers against her knee.

Neither of them said anything for a few minutes, and it was Linda who finally broke the silence.

"Alright, I forgive him. If he gets Piper out of this, Dick has my permission to date him again."

Wally rolled his eyes. "Because I'm sure he would have asked. Ow! You know, it's really not okay to punch your husband in the arm!"

"Sorry, you're right. I should have aimed for the itchy ritual dagger scar."

* * *

_A/N: The conversation between Wally and Wolfe was lifted directly from the Flash: Rogues by Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins (though I did add onto it at the end there). Piper's attempt to kill the mayor can be found in Flash 335: How to Trash a Flash by Cary Bates and Carmine Infantino. I highly recommend the Piper stories from the 330s of the original run. They're not exactly the best Flash comics ever written, but the story line is interesting to explore in fanfiction, and I'd love to see other writers' takes on it._

_I've realized that a lot of the issues I want to reread for the sake of writing this story are on loan to people, and I'm not sure who has what, so it might be a little while before my next update. In the meantime might I recommend my other Piper-centric fic arc? It starts with Pavement Cracks and the latest installment is called It's Only Me (conveniently set safely during Mark Waid's run, whose comics are in my possession at this very moment!)_

_As always, reviews are appreciated ;)_


	21. Chapter 21

_A/N: Hey everyone. I know it's been forever since I've updated. Sorry about that. 2012 has been a turbulent year for me that's involved homelessness, which has involved having my comics (ie necessary reference material) in storage. Things finally calmed down enough for me to fish out my Geoff Johns run and reread it. If I'd tried to write this part without it, I'd have made a garbled mess of continuity and I'm far too anal to do anything like that (sorry if this chapter is a bit summary-heavy for the canon, but I happen to know thanks to some PMs I've gotten that not everyone who's reading this fic has read the specific Flash comics this one's structured around, so I'm trying to do just enough to keep them from getting totally lost). _

_I'm hoping to have the next chapter out reasonably quickly, but there are quite a few fics competing for my attention right now (plus a bit of professional writing), so if you want to see an update please leave me a review and let me know you'd prefer me to focus on this one. Hope you guys like it :)  
_

**Chapter 21**

When Wally tried to visit Piper at Iron Heights he was told he couldn't. That had never happened before.

It was one of the perks of having a public persona; generally the people of Keystone and Central City (especially the ones involved in any level of law enforcement) were so grateful for all the work he'd done for them that he got a lot of favors. Visiting Piper should have been nothing. Even if Wally wasn't a beloved local superhero, the guy was supposed to have visiting hours.

This warden was _really_ getting on his nerves.

As soon as Wally left Iron Heights he called the KCPD and got on the phone with Hunter. The guy was already looking into Piper's case (because even the top notch Rogue profiler didn't think Piper murdering _anyone_, especially his parents, made sense), and he promised to figure out why Wolfe was hiding Piper.

Wally thanked him profusely, then went to meet up with Linda. They had dinner plans with the Garricks, and he was really looking forward to it. There were plenty of people looking into Piper's case now (Hunter was at least as smart as Dick, if not more so), Chunk's condition had stabilized, and really Wally just needed a break. Everything seemed to be going wrong. A few hours with his wife and two of the kindest people he'd ever met would revitalize him, and then he could face whatever else the cities were going to throw at him.

* * *

Meanwhile, Piper was curled in on himself on the floor of his cell in the Pipeline. Even though he'd received some head shots during his introductory beating, his implants were still working fine and he'd been able to hear Wally getting escorted out of Iron Heights without seeing him.

With all the things he'd gone through in his life he'd never actually felt truly hopeless before. When he'd been chased away from home before he could support himself, he'd stolen a boatload of money and before the year was out, turned a personal tragedy into an act of defiance by becoming a supervillain. When he'd landed in jail for the first time, rather than let his fear overtake him so that he went crawling back to his parents, he'd hatched an elaborate escape to thumb his nose at the Flash. His time at Breedmore had been painful and disturbing, but he'd gotten better and left the hospital with determination, proud of what he'd overcome.

This was so incredibly different. There was no way things were going to get better. His parents were dead, and even though Wally wanted to help him, _he couldn't_. Piper was alone.

He'd never actually been completely alone before…

He was also defenseless in the presence of sadists.

Piper recognized some of the guards; he'd helped Wally save their lives when Murmur had infected Iron Heights with the Frenzy Virus. That didn't seem to matter. The only thing they saw when they looked at him was a costume, and he had cracked ribs, severe bruising, blood matting his hair to his skull, and four broken toes to testify to the guards' opinion of costumes.

Upon hearing footsteps heading in his direction, Piper hoped against hope that whoever was approaching was heading to one of the other cells in the Pipeline. When they started the lengthy process of unlocking and scraping open his door, he allowed a delusional moment of hope that maybe he'd be allowed to see Wally after all.

Attempting to present some semblance of dignity, Piper struggled his way to his feet and tried to keep his weight off the foot with the broken toes. As soon as the door was fully open, several guards rushed into the cell and wailed on him with clubs, bringing him right back to the ground.

Piper covered his head with his arms, paralyzed with terror that they'd do something to his hearing implants. If those were damaged and he became deaf again then he'd just die. There was no point in hoping to leave Iron Heights without sound.

"Ease up boys. I think he got the message," one of the guards said with a cruel chuckle. He crouched next to Piper and forced his head up by yanking on his hair. "Y'know, it would've been easier to do that if you'd kept your frou-frou ponytail. You did get the message, right cocksucker? Don't try to run or we'll break your fucking legs."

"Run?" Piper repeated. "Are you taking me somewhere?"

"The warden wants you in the infirmary, now get up." He threw Piper's head backwards and he fell back onto the dirty floor.

There was no denying he needed medical attention, but Piper was loathe to follow any orders given by the warden considering the man's first action upon Piper's arrival was to have him viciously assaulted by guards while he was still handcuffed. "If it's all the same, I'd rather just stay in my cell. I promise you all, I'll be no trouble while I wait for my trial."

He hoped to god he was going to live to see a trial, anyway.

The guards started laughing, and then one of the ones standing behind him clubbed him over the head. It wasn't hard enough to knock him out, but it got his ears ringing and that was frankly terrifying.

"Listen asshole, the warden wants you in the infirmary, so that's where you're going. I suggest you go now while you can still walk, because we will make you fucking crawl there if we need to."

Piper climbed unsteadily to his feet, shaking all over. Then one of the guards hit him in the stomach and he was back on the floor. They all laughed, and for the next twenty minutes or so they made a game of knocking him down every time he tried to get to his feet. He was treated to digs on his socialism and sexuality while they mauled him, until eventually the one that had been doing most of the talking reminded them that they had jobs to do.

By that point Piper couldn't walk anymore and they had to drag him through the halls.

* * *

One of his eyes was gummed shut from coagulating blood. Piper was lying on his side on a medical cot facing towards the front of the infirmary, but even though one of his eyes was open he wasn't taking much in. Everything hurt: muscles he hadn't really even thought about until then were hurting. He could see his own blood staining the crisp white padding on the cot, forming a macabre outline of his body.

Wolfe walked into the infirmary and grinned with satisfaction. "Why hello Mr. Rathaway. It appears you're settling in nicely."

Piper made a renewed effort to get his left eyelid to open, but it remained stubbornly closed. He looked up at the warden as best he could with his right eye. He had a lot he wanted to ask the man, but it all distilled pretty well into the only word he could choke out.

"Why?"

Wolfe chuckled. "Because you deserve it. You're an infection in these cities, and it's my job to see that you are dealt with."

Piper closed his eye and tried not to break down into hysterics. Breathing normally was already a painful ordeal with his injured ribs; he couldn't make it worse by hyperventilating.

But this was the most profound miscarriage of justice he'd ever experienced. He'd been locked up more times than he wanted to count in his three decades of life, and maybe Iron Heights back in the old days hadn't done its job very well, but it certainly wasn't looking to give Guantanamo a run for its money.

Back in the old days, the justice system had tried to help supervillains reform in the hopes that they would use their unique skills to benefit mankind. Eventually that ideology had struck home with him, and after doing a lot of work on himself in the Breedmore hospital, Piper had managed to do just that. He'd reformed, and he'd devoted his life to helping other people in constructive ways instead of angry, blind rebellion. If he was really guilty of the crime he'd been sent to Iron Heights for (something he still wasn't letting himself dwell on if he could help it), then he'd lost control of himself plain and simple.

This hellhole wasn't going to help him recover. But that clearly wasn't the goal.

Piper opened his eye again when he felt a hand on his cheek. He recoiled when he realized it was Wolfe's. "Stay with me Rathaway. We have something to discuss."

Wolfe reached down and grabbed Piper's hand. He started flexing Piper's fingers, feeling along each of them in turn. "My but you have a lot of burns and calluses. From designing your own weaponry, I assume?"

"…build…instruments," Piper ground out. Yes, _he_ was able to use them as weapons, but no one else had managed to duplicate that feat, so in the hands of an average person his flutes were just flutes.

"As I understand it, you're able to do quite remarkable things when you have any implement that can produce tones. That unique ability presents a certain risk. Should you figure out how to tap your cell door just right, for example…well, we can't have you hypnotizing our guards."

Piper gazed at him incredulously. Did Wolfe really think he was going to waltz out of Iron Heights after banging 'shave and a haircut' on a piece of metal? If it were that simple, he would have done it already.

Then that grin came back on Wolfe's hard, angry face, and Piper knew he was going to have nightmares about that look. "We're going to have to do something about those hands. It's a perfectly reasonable precaution. Or, the governor certainly thought so when I mentioned it to him earlier this afternoon."

"Do…something?" Piper whispered hoarsely.

"Mm. I was thinking something along the lines of breaking each of your fingers and having them tightly splinted. That should keep you in line."

Piper heaved his broken body up into a sitting position and turned to face the warden, fear giving him energy he hadn't had moments ago. "Th-that's inhuman. You can't really-I have rights! How could I feed myself, or get changed, or, or go to the bathroom?"

"Amputees manage, and you'll still actually have the hands." Wolfe waved a few workers over. "Such a shame too. Nice long fingers like those. You have pianist's hands you know." He turned on his heel, chuckling to himself as he left the infirmary.

He was followed by Piper's screams as he was forcibly restrained by the staff for his procedure.

* * *

Dick was on his way to Keystone when the Reflection went up. He was just outside the city and happened to be looking at his surroundings carefully, trying to figure out if he was on a toll road or not when the energy field shimmered into place, otherwise he would have missed it.

It didn't take him long to figure out what that wavering of light had meant. He tried driving into Keystone three times, and each time he was spit back out with fake memories of having been inside, but no time had passed. And the fake memories were perfectly realistic. He really would have believed that he'd spent a few hours at Wally and Linda's watching TV and eating pizza, if he hadn't been on his way over for superheroics.

But he still couldn't get inside, even though he knew what it was doing. He tried raising Wally on a comm device, and even cellphone, but he got fake conversations and voicemail every time.

"Well it explains something, at least," Dick muttered to himself. Whoever had blocked off Keystone with tech that could instill realistic fake memories was more than capable of giving Piper a false memory of killing his parents.

That knowledge still didn't help Dick get into Keystone.

He peered across the river, and noted that Central didn't look like it was doing much better. Cyborg had just moved to Central. Dick decided to try giving him a call, hoping that if Vic didn't know what was going on with Keystone, he would at least have some insight as to what was up with Central's weather. The whole damn skyline was in flames. Dick knew that Wally had a Rogue that controlled the weather, so it was likely that the guy was throwing some kind of hissy, but shouldn't someone have stopped him by now?

And why were the buildings in Keystone glowing green and flashing binary?

No response.

Dick sat down on the hood of his car and stared up at the sky, trying to think of a way to be useful.

* * *

Meanwhile, Wally was having one of the worst days of his recent memory. He'd finally been jumped by the conspiracy of new Rogues that had hurt his friends for the sake of isolating him, and before he could deal with them he'd also been attacked by the Thinker, who'd wanted to turn him into a living data processor and had held all of Keystone City hostage to do so.

It had been a miserable fight, but ultimately he hadn't fought it alone. Those detectives from Keystone that he kept bumping into, Morillo and Chyre, had really come through. They'd managed to free Cyborg and the other cops from the trap the Rogues had stuck them in, and then Goldface had rallied the average citizens of Keystone and Central to help their local superhero. It wasn't quite the same as having Jay, Bart, Jesse, Piper, and Chunk watching his back, but it certainly wasn't bad.

After doing a quick run through the cities to check up on his friends and make sure the mayhem was settling down quietly, Wally finally went back to his apartment and dropped into an exhausted heap on the couch. His beautiful, loving, supportive wife (who'd been one of the Thinker's victims the last time he'd seen her) walked over to him and offered him a small smile. He smiled back as the speedforce reclaimed his suit. Linda brushed his sweaty bangs out of his face, and Wally leaned into the touch, thankful that she was safe, and ready to finally bask in the comforting presence of his wife after a truly miserable day.

"Alright Wally, get up. We're not done yet."

"What?" Wally yelped. "_I'm_ done! I've been busting my ass all day and I'm not going anywhere without a nap."

"Tina and Jerry want us at STAR labs as soon as possible. They've got their people doing checkups on everyone in Keystone to make sure there are no side effects from the Thinker's gear or that mirror dome that went over the city, and they want to check us out personally. Wally, come on. You can say hi to Vic too."

"Can I take a short nap?" Wally asked feebly.

Linda sighed. "I'd honestly rather just get this over with now so we can both go to sleep together tonight."

Well there was no denying that that sounded good. Reluctantly, Wally climbed to his feet and crackled his suit back on. He lifted Linda into his arms and ran her over to the labs.

* * *

Wally took out his phone while Jerry examined him, figuring it was probably going to take awhile considering he'd had more exposure to the Thinker and all the weird new Rogue tech than anyone else in the Cities. "Oh man…"

"What is it?" Jerry asked.

"Nightwing's been blowing up my phone since all this stuff went down. That's never a good sign."

He did have some news about Piper though. While Wally had been fighting the Rogues, he'd caught Mirror Master impersonating Piper and had finally managed to put everything together. Wally had already spoken to Hunter about it, and they were pretty sure they had enough evidence to get Piper cleared. He texted Dick back and told him they could meet up at his place.

Then Tina came over to talk to him and Linda, and after hearing her bombshell he texted Dick again and told him to go home.

Hunter was going to start working on the papers to get Piper transferred and ultimately cleared in the morning. It's not like there was anything more they could really do for Piper right at that moment anyway. But he and Linda did need to spend some time alone together. Hell, at this point they fucking deserved it.

He was going to take the night off to be idiotically excited with his wife about finding out she was pregnant.


	22. Chapter 22

_A/N: I forgot to mention last chapter, I have a new poll up on my profile page. I'm getting some feelers out on what pairings people like to see out of me. If you've got a minute, please pick up to five couples that you'd like to see me work with. Thanks everyone, and remember to feed the hungry author with reviews :)  
_

**Chapter Twenty Two**

"Mr. Rathaway, calm down. No one's going to break your fingers."

Piper stopped flailing, and the restraining hands on his arms and legs relaxed a little. He realized that they'd been holding him down for his own safety as much as anything else.

He squinted at the medic that had spoken, sure the young man looked familiar. "Do I know you?"

The guy smiled and nodded. Piper couldn't place him at all; he just knew that he'd seen those sad brown eyes before. "My name's Cody. You helped me and my Mom find a place when we were evicted, and then you got her a job at a publishing house. That's the whole reason I was able to go to school and get a medical degree."

The guard that had been holding Piper's legs made an awkward little wave. "Brian Somers. You and Flash got my kids out of a collapsing building."

"Andy Parker. You helped my dad fix up his store after it got looted during the Kobra attacks."

"Kelsey. I came out of the closet because of you. I figured if you could tell a bunch of supervillains, I could tell my Mom."

Piper tried to speak a few times, but nothing came out. He wasn't used to getting the kind of recognition Wally always got, nor did he really expect it (especially under the circumstances). Kelsey helped him into a sitting position on the cot, and then as one, the grateful medics started examining him while the guards stood watch by the door.

"Cody, we need to tape these ribs. Can you help me out with that?"

"First let me do these stitches. It'll just be a sec."

"Guys, um…not that I don't appreciate this but…" Piper finally found his voice again, but he still couldn't think of a way to phrase what needed to be said.

"Don't worry, we won't get fired for helping you," Kelsey offered him a bottle of pain pills, and even though it was tempting he refused them. He wanted to keep his head as clear as possible. Shrugging it off, she set them down and then went back to work. "Even though the new warden encourages brutality towards anyone unfortunate enough to wind up in the Pipeline, tending the sick and injured is still in our job descriptions."

Cody rolled his eyes. "And with the way Wolfe runs this place, he makes sure we stay in practice."

"What about his orders?" Piper asked.

Kelsey opened a drawer and took out some splints. "We don't have to break your fingers for you to wear these. Just so long as Wolfe thinks we did as told, you should be okay."

"Th-thank you."

Cody sat down next to him on the cot and gave his knee a gentle squeeze. "Look Mr. Rathaway, the way we see it, we owe you. We're just trying to pay you back."

"It seems like me and Andy are the only guards who remember that you helped save our asses from Murmur's creepy throat melting virus. We're gonna do what we can to distract the other guys so they leave you alone but…we can't really promise anything," Brian said with a scowl.

"This isn't exactly an LGBT friendly environment," Kelsey added. She ripped off a long piece of medical tape with more force than was probably necessary. "A bunch of those assholes have offered to 'show me what I'm missing' or convert me or whatever. If there are any male gays working here, they've had the good sense to keep their mouths shut about it."

"That's not exactly a new attitude," Piper said, reflecting on the first few times he'd been imprisoned in Iron Heights in the old days. He didn't like to think of what might have happened to him if he hadn't joined up with the Rogues so quickly.

"Well, be that as it may, we're not going to let those macho assholes take out their bullshit homophobic impulses on you if we can help it." Kelsey said. She ripped a few more pieces of tape and stuck them to a nearby metal table. "Cody, let's do the ribs before we do the fingers. You finished with those stitches yet?"

"Just about."

After Kelsey and Cody finished patching him up they did a passable job pretending to mutilate his hands. They each wished him luck (Kelsey kissed his cheek), and then Andy and Brian escorted him back to his cell. Andy started to say a cordial goodbye, but they heard other guards passing by in the hall so he switched it up and called him a dirty faggot instead. Brian spit on the floor, but he also stuck his head back in and waved goodbye as soon as the other guards were out of sight.

Piper sat down on the floor of his cell and stared at the closed door for a few minutes, trying to make sense of the odd encounter. Somehow, being treated with humanity made everything else seem worse.

He rested his forehead on his knees and took a few shuddering breaths. There was nothing else for it. He couldn't stay in Iron Heights and wait for help from the outside that would never come. He had to figure out how to leave. He couldn't let those guards and medics get in trouble for helping him, and it was clear that they'd risk their jobs and even their safety to keep doing so.

He had to leave, and figure out who really murdered his…no.

Piper gave himself a little shake. He was in the habit, when confronted with a murder, of assuming there were bad guys that needed to be caught. He'd never been that kind of villain…

A small sob escaped him. Maybe he _should_ stay. Maybe he deserved this.

His impulse had been not to dwell on the fact that his parents were dead, and that they'd died by his own hand. Focusing on it, remembering what they'd looked like was going to drive him insane.

God. He closed his eyes and saw them, in a heap on the floor, shards of glass everywhere…their blood everywhere.

But he couldn't remember what had driven him to do it. They hadn't always gotten along, but even in his angriest, most rebellious phase he'd still loved them. Piper had always held out the hope that eventually Rachel and Osgood would tell him that they'd be proud of him just as he was, even if he didn't marry some pretty little rich girl and raise a herd of future CEOs. And they'd come pretty close. Hell, they'd even let him take his ex-boyfriend James to Thanksgiving dinner once.

What could they have possibly said to get him angry enough to…he honestly couldn't remember. But he did remember attacking them…kind of. And who the hell "kind of" remembers doing something like that? Something about this whole situation was off, and he wasn't going to get any answers by staying in Iron Heights.

Before he even realized what he was doing, Piper started peeling away the tape around his fingers. One by one, he removed the splints. Then he carefully climbed to his feet and started examining his cell, looking for a way out.

* * *

Taking great pains to move as naturally as possible, Dick grabbed a fry from his plate and popped it into his mouth. Eating a high calorie, fatty diner meal in the presence of another Bat was difficult enough without said Bat sporting a suspicious detective glare. Tim's light blue eyes had been narrowed in concentration almost from the time Dick had picked him up from his dad's house that afternoon.

He was just trying to spend a Saturday evening with his brother-like friend and give him a relatively normal atmosphere to vent if he so chose. It's what Dick would have wanted when he was Tim's age, and what Tim probably needed considering he was dealing with the bombshell of his dad having found the Robin suit hidden in his closet. It had taken Tim a few weeks to convince Jack Drake to let him suit back up, and it had taken blood in the halls of his school to make him even want to. The last month had been truly horrible for Tim.

And yet Dick had the feeling he'd be the one spilling his guts, not the other way around.

"How's your burger?" Dick finally asked, desperate to hear somebody talk.

"Fine. Delicious contraband. A greasy nightmare that would give Bruce an aneurism if he caught us eating it."

Dick quirked an eyebrow. "So everything's okay?"

Tim shrugged. "Things could be better."

Dick glanced around them to make sure the other patrons and the staff weren't paying attention to them. He still lowered his voice a bit anyway. "How are things with the Titans going? No other interference from the League, right?" Dick had swung by the Tower and broken up a full fledged brawl between the Justice League and the newest incarnation of the Teen Titans just that weekend. He made another mental note to give Wally hell for acting exactly like the kind of pompous superhero jackass they used to complain about when they'd been teenagers.

Tim finally smiled at him, although it was more of a sly smirk than Dick would have liked. "They backed off and gave us space. Thanks for yelling at everyone for us."

"Not a problem. But you and your friends are settling into the new Tower okay?"

Tim shrugged. "It's big. When we were Young Justice, we never met in anything that large and…well, it invites a lot more trouble than we ever did."

They ate in an uncomfortable silence for a little while longer, Tim continuing to mentally dissect Dick until finally he set his burger down and crossed his arms over his chest. "Will you just ask whatever it is?"

Tim sighed. "Fine. I noticed that you and Barbara aren't going out."

Dick looked at him a bit incredulously. "That's _been_ the case."

"Uh huh. But didn't you dump Hartley Rathaway so you could start dating her again?"

"Where did you hear that?" Dick demanded.

"Bart," Tim said, as though it were obvious. In retrospect it was, but Dick's first thought had been that Bruce and Tim were talking about him and judging him behind his back.

Although come to think of it, if Bruce started judging him behind his back it might actually be an improvement in their relationship.

"If it wasn't to start dating Barbara again, then why did you dump the Piper?" Tim asked.

Dick bit back an angry retort and tried to keep his tone casual. "Does it bother you?"

Tim shrugged. "It just…doesn't make sense. I know I didn't see the two of you interact or anything, but you seemed happier while you were dating him. Bart thought you guys were a good couple too. We just thought it was a little confusing. Oh, I'm sorry. Did Barbara lead you on and dump you?"

"No," Dick snapped. Tim stared at him with wide eyed confusion, and a little bit of hurt. Dick took a calming breath, but he couldn't quite get a lid on his irritation. They were supposed to be having a heart to heart about Tim's problems, not his. Tim's were much more significant, and pressing, and…Tim hadn't brought them on himself.

Dick sighed, and rubbed at his eyes. "Look, I did break up with Hartley because I thought Babs was going to take me back, but…I changed my mind before I even really pursued that. I shouldn't have broken up with him. He did make me really happy, and it was stupid of me to throw that away."

"Yep," Tim agreed. Dick shot him a look, and he flashed that annoyingly smug little smirk again. "So is that why you're on edge? You're trying to win him back, but you haven't been able to charm him yet?"

"I haven't gotten the chance," Dick grumbled. He explained about how Piper had been framed for murdering his parents, and that Dick had spent days tracking down information on Blacksmith's criminal network only to have Wally uncover everything while the secretive criminal organization attacked him.

"Well I don't think it really matters _who_ proved Piper was innocent so long as the deed was accomplished," Tim said, sounding a bit more patronizing than Dick liked to be spoken to by a sixteen year old.

"I just helped you and your friends out with the Justice League. You wanna not talk to me like I'm six years old?"

"Well then don't act like a six year old," Tim returned. Dick stuck his tongue out at him and he rolled his eyes. "I should have expected that. So when's Piper getting out of jail?"

"Hopefully tonight. Wally said he'd give me a call as soon as he got back from Iron Heights. Hartley's still going to be in custody until they can get some paperwork through, but they've got proof that Mirror Master did it, so Piper will be out in no time and then I can finally beg him to take me back."

"You're...Dick, don't you think you should give him a little time to get over losing his family? God, I can't believe I'm saying that _to you_."

Dick scowled at him. "That was low."

"It needed to be said. You can't just show up at his house and try to jump his bones. Think of everything he's just been through."

"_I am_," Dick snapped. "And I'm getting really sick of people telling me off for this. I care about him and I know he's hurting. Is it so bad to want to see him and see if there's anything I can do to help?"

That had been meant more for Wally and Linda, not so much for Tim. Dick immediately felt bad for yelling at the kid when he was just trying to help him. God knows Dick needed as much guidance as he could get when it came to his personal relationships, and even though he was young, Tim was a good ear. He was level headed and balanced, where Dick tended to let his emotions and whims carry him in bad directions.

"Seeing him to give him support is different from pressuring him into resuming a relationship that ended abruptly because you didn't think things through, that's all I'm saying," Tim said meekly.

"I know. You're, you're right," Dick admitted. "I won't pressure him right away." At least, if he could help it. Dick knew himself well enough to realize that he was going to flirt at least a little the first opportunity he got. "I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"It's okay. It's been that kind of a week." Tim finished off the last of his french fries, and offered Dick a shy smile. "And I do appreciate you sneaking me out for forbidden greasy comfort food. You were right, I totally needed this."

"I'd say we should make this a regular thing, but between the Titans, the Outsiders, and just plain regular days in Gotham and Bludhaven..."

"I know," Tim said. "An irregular but more frequent thing?"

"Sounds good." Dick started fiddling with a dessert card, wondering if he'd be able to get Tim (who was a much more responsible Robin than he'd ever been in a lot of ways) to split a piece of fudge cake with him.

"Besides, knowing you, in a couple weeks you'll be using all your free time on your boyfriend."

Dick looked up from the dessert card. "You sound pretty sure of yourself, considering a minute ago you were telling me to give Piper space."

"Yeah, but you're _you_," Tim said smugly. "I've got an unconfirmed hypothesis that you've got some kind of unstudied meta-gene that gives you super-charm. And he's only human. If you're not dating again before the month is out then you're slipping."

Dick laughed, but it was a nice bit of flattery that his ego desperately needed after weeks of being told what a thoughtless jerk he was. "You're a good friend Tim. In fact, you're such a good friend that I think you deserve fudge cake. Wanna split a slice?"

"Bruce will definitely figure out where we've been if I can't get the spandex back on," Tim said with a scowl, frowning at the picture of gooey chocolate goodness.

Dick frowned. "Fine, what about the fruit cup?"

They were still negotiating dessert when Dick got his promised call from Wally. He allowed himself a brief best-case-scenario fantasy that involved Piper getting released that night, and Wally inviting them all over to his place to celebrate. Dick would be able to get Piper alone, talk to him in private, explain how much he missed him and that he really had fallen in love with him…

That fantasy was viciously destroyed at Wally's news. "Piper's gone."

"What? What the hell does that mean?" Dick squawked. A few other patrons of the diner turned to stare at him, and Tim's face fell. Dick jumped out of their booth and went to finish the call outside. "What happened? What do you mean he's gone?"

"I dunno, I just…urgh. I just got back from Iron Heights. I went with Hunter to give the warden the papers to transfer Piper to local lockup, and we went to his cell and it was empty. It looks like he ripped the toilet out and crawled through the wall."

"Fuck."

"Yeah," Wally said. "It's…I mean, I know he's an old hand at escaping from those sorts of places, but…everything about this seems so desperate. I tried to go and visit him a few times, and they wouldn't let me see him. They kept telling Hunter he was in the infirmary and, Jesus Dick, with the way Wolfe runs that place I believe it. I'm worried about him."

"Does he at least know he's innocent?"

"I dunno. He could've fought through whatever Mirror Master did to him by now, but no one's told him."

Dick frowned. "We've got to find him. I'll head over to the Cities now."

"I've already taken a few runs through the area. Wherever he's holed up, he's well hidden. Hartley has a network like you wouldn't believe, and it goes through both sides of the costumed community. I don't think we're going to find him until he's ready to be found."

"You just said you were worried about him-"

"_I am_," Wally snapped. "But I know him, and I know that we're buds, and that he trusts me. He'll come and find me when he's ready and then I'll tell him that you've been trying to help him and that he should give you a call. Is that okay?"

"Uh…are you okay Wally?" Dick asked, suddenly concerned for his friend, who was usually a little more upbeat than that. At least he wasn't the only one snapping at well intentioned friends.

"I'm...I've been under a lot of stress lately. It's fine. I'm fine. I'm just gonna spend the night in with Linda and relax. But if you want to creep around the Cities and look for Hartley I certainly won't stop you."

Dick looked through the big glass window of the diner, scanning the room until he caught sight of his and Tim's table. The kid looked worried. As Dick watched, he waved the waitress over and motioned towards the dessert card.

It was stupid, but Dick kind of felt like crying when he saw Tim order a piece of fudge cake for them. They really hadn't been spending as much quality time like this together as they could be.

Wally was probably right. Piper would come to him when he was ready.

"I should probably stay here. I'm already doing something important. But you will call me when you hear from him, right?"

"Dude, of course."

"And let me know if there's anything I can do to help you out too. You sound really worn down."

"I'll bounce back soon enough, I'm sure," Wally said, sounding a little more like his usual self. "We should hang out again sometime soon though. I think the last time we hung out in person for anything fun was that stupid couples dinner Linda made us have."

"It was fun though," Dick said. "And we didn't even have to play Pictionary."

"Yeah. We should do that again sometime, whenever you charm your way back into Hartley's pants. Dude, what the hell did I just say? Oh, man, that was gross. I don't even know what I'm saying anymore. I'm going to bed."

Laughing, Dick wished Wally a good night and then went back into the diner.

* * *

The rain was coming down in sheets over Central City. Paul Gambi looked out his front window and tsked a few times. "I wish Mark wouldn't take his temper out on the City like this."

"I think this one's nature," Len spoke up. "Last time I talked to Mardon he was actually in a pretty good mood." He was sitting at a little table in the front of the shop, waiting for Gambi to finish bagging up his latest order. The tailor's shop had long since closed, but his most valued, lucrative, and loyal customers always came after hours.

"Well Len, you're welcome to wait out the storm if you so choose. Or I suppose we could just give Mark a call and ask him to take care of it."

"Eh, I got nowhere else to be tonight. So how's business?"

"It could be better. I never realized how much business I got from James Jesse until he left town. Even when he stopped robbing banks and started fighting demon kings, he still came to me for his new costumes. And he destroys them at a much faster rate than anyone I've ever sewn for in my life."

Len snorted. "Color me unsurprised. Yeah, I miss Jesse. He was a good Rogue. I'm still not sure what to make of the new kid, but I'm hoping we can train him. Make him shape up, something. He's got some good ideas, he's just an annoying pain in the ass."

"To be fair Len, I've heard you say that about all of your coworkers at least once."

Len smirked. "True enough. Some more than others though."

They were interrupted by a sudden pounding on the front door.

Gambi set the shirt box he'd been holding back down on the counter and approached his door. He checked that it was securely locked, then tried to peer through the glass to see who was on the other side, but the sheets of rain made it impossible to tell. "I'm closed!"

The pounding continued, if anything getting more insistent from his words.

Len eased a cold gun from his side and aimed it at the doorway. "Get lost asshole, he's not doing business tonight!" Well, not with anyone but Len, as he'd made an appointment.

Gambi chewed on his lip, then went to open the lock. "What are you doing?" Len growled.

"I have a feeling. I just want to see who it is. Besides, you can take care of it if it's anyone…unsavory."

Ego appeased, Len didn't say anything else, but he kept his gun pointed at the door.

Gambi opened it a crack, then let out a gasp when he saw who was on the other side. He threw the door open and ushered Piper inside. "Fucking hell!" Len yelled when he got a good look at him. He darted out of the chair and then helped Gambi all but carry Piper to it.

In addition to being dripping wet and white as a sheet, the guy was sporting all manner of colorful bruises, and his hands were bloodied and mangled. He'd even lost a couple of fingernails entirely.

"Oh Hartley, you poor boy. What happened to you?" Gambi asked.

"I…I had to get out of Iron Heights." Piper dazedly held up his hands. "There was nothing to use to, to get leverage so I just kept pulling until I got it…until I got it out."

Gambi touched Piper's forehead and let out some more tsks. "He's burning up. Len, would you mind stepping out back and finding some dry clothes?"

"Sure thing." He stopped by the front door to lock it back up first, and, thinking better of it, he pulled down the curtain to the front window too. "Just in case."

Gambi went to the employee bathroom and came back a moment later with a first aid kit and some towels. Between the two of them they helped Piper out of the dirty, tattered remains of his old costume and into a clean pair of slacks and a sweater that were supposed to be going out to some dull Central City businessman the next afternoon.

Gambi couldn't help but notice that the clothes were blue, and figured that Len must have grabbed the first non-supervillain clothing he'd seen that had jumped out to him. Knowing his long time customer's preferences, Gambi would have put Piper in green, but the blue suited him. Brought out his eyes (he'd been trying for years to convince Piper that he had beautiful eyes, and that hiding them with a visor was more criminal than anything he'd done in polka dots).

Gambi cleaned Piper's hands. The blood was concentrated around his scraped up knuckles and finger tips. He bandaged the fingertips that had lost their nails, and then he gave Piper some aspirin to break his fever.

"Are you feeling any better Hartley?" he asked.

Piper slowly blinked, then nodded. "Th-thank you. I…I'm sorry. I just couldn't think of anywhere else to go…I couldn't keep skulking around in a bright green costume. They'd find me. I can't go back there."

Len frowned. "Just what the hell's going on at Iron Heights? Mardon's spooked by the place too. What the hell's going on with this new warden?"

Piper let out a full body shudder, then hugged his arms protectively. "It's bad Len. Worse than…no one's ever treated us like that before. I've nothing to compare it to."

"Huh. Well at least they sent Blacksmith there. That's something."

"Blacksmith?" Piper peered at him in confusion.

Gambi frowned. "The woman who ran the Network. Don't you remember Piper? You used to do all your fencing there back before you reformed."

"I…actually, I don't." Piper rubbed at his temple. "Huh. I don't…remember where I fenced my goods at all, actually."

Len rubbed at his eyes. "Fucking fantastic, that. I bet she did it somehow, to keep you from blabbing to Flash. Blacksmith tried to take over the Rogues recently, and Flash kicked her ass but good. Whatever that warden did to you and Mardon, I hope he does it tenfold to that witch."

"Don't say that Len. No one deserves what they were…urgh." Piper slouched a little lower in his chair, eyes half lidded.

"Oh Hartley, it's alright. Don't worry about that now. You got out, and everything's going to be fine," Gambi assured him.

"I've got some…some money in a hidden account. I can wire it to you."

"Don't worry about that right now." Though he'd happily take whatever Piper wanted to pay him in the morning.

"You still got that hidden room in the back?" Len asked.

"Of course."

"Alright. I'll help you get Piper in there...then I should, uh, probably get going," Len said, probably conscious of the fact that they were on different sides. Gambi turned aside to hide his smile. He found it endearing that Len's first instinct upon seeing one of his old coworkers in distress was to jump in and take care of him. Much as he liked to pretend otherwise, Len Snart had a good heart, and when he ran the show in the Cities the Rogues were a respectable band of organized criminal, mindful of their limits. It was the only reason Gambi had been willing to work with them to begin with.

"I can walk," Piper insisted, sounding feeble and even a little pathetic. He tried to get to his feet, and promptly fell over. Len caught him, then picked him up and threw him over his shoulder. "Len," he tried to yell, but it came out as more of a whine.

"Just shut up," Len snapped. Gambi led them to the hidden room, which had been built during Prohibition and taken advantage of by the Rogues' tailor many times throughout the years. There were two cots set up, as well as abundant medical supplies and even a few personal effects from his patrons (a volume of Mark Twain, a few porn mags, a deceptively harmless looking yo-yo that Gambi had yet to work up the nerve to move himself, and a hand painted top).

Len dropped Piper on one of the cots, less gently than he might have, but they were technically on opposite sides. Still though, as far as Gambi could tell, the reformed Rogues and the current Rogues were still civil to each other. From what he'd heard, James Jesse had been the one to help Len, Digger, Mark, Mick, and Evan get Neron off their backs.

Gambi felt Piper's forehead again and frowned. He motioned for Len to follow him, and they crept back out to the main storage area of the little shop. "He's awfully warm Len. Maybe we should take him to a hospital."

"So they can throw him back in that hellhole and he can kill himself trying to break out the next time?" Len asked with a sneer. "Forget it."

Gambi sighed, feeling conflicted. Piper had always been one of his favorite Rogues. He was always friendly, he tipped well, and he was a good conversationalist. "You're probably right. I don't want to leave him alone though."

"I'll sit up with him. Go home and get some sleep Paul."

"But Len, I-"

"You've done enough for us over the years. I'll take care of him."

Len walked back into the hidden room and sat down on the unoccupied cot. He crossed his arms over his chest and faced towards Piper, exuding determination. Gambi had worked with Len longer than any of the other Rogues, and really it hadn't taken that long to get to know him. He was a very straightforward man, and he was also a stubborn ass.

Gambi threw a thin quilt over Piper, and let out a little sigh, watching as his slender frame was wracked with violent shivers. The last time he'd seen Piper he'd put on so much muscle tone. Well, it was all gone now.

"I'll be back first thing in the morning," Gambi promised.

Len nodded, then turned back towards Piper to keep his vigil.


End file.
